Meteor Shower
by poorasdirt
Summary: I had thought when I closed that chapter in my life you went with it. Obviously I was wrong but don't worry, we'll see each other again, but not on happy terms. Sequel to Solar Eclipse, Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**: Five years have passed since Bella left Forks with her best friend Madison, a lot has changed but some things still remain the same. She now has new obligations and goals that have now defined her life. One of her goals is to get to the bottom of the many vampire attacks she has been putting up with for the past few years. She may not know of many vampire customs and laws but she does know the attacks center around the Cullens. What the Cullens don't know is Coyote is on thier trail and she won't stop tracking them until she gets her answers. Now if only she can hold back her anger long enough to get the answers she seeks, before she tears each and every Cullen vampire into shreds.

**poorasdirt**: YAY!! As you can see this is the sequel to Solar Eclipse. Things don't start off right after Bella leaves Forks obviously, but this is a few years in the future. The time jump was one of the things that I was having trouble fitting into my original outline for some reason, it just didn't look right to me. So I split it up, there may be another story after this one as well simply because I doubt I've managed to be satisfied with the ending just yet. I'm still unsure on that front but if there will be one I'll let y'all know. For right now I don't see a pairing for Bella but I'm still open to the idea. Anyway, hopefully I'm still doing my previous story justice with this one and I don't see me posting for at least a day or two since I don't have anything prewritten and have to type out all the chapters from scratch with this one. Be patient though and I'll get to them should life allow.

**Disclaimer**: I looked this one up so I could get it right on the first try, the Twilight series belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I already knew Xmen has Marvel written all over it so that one was easy. As you can probably tell none of those things have my name on it so it's safe to say I don't own them. Yes, I do not, repeat, do not own anything besides the OCs and plotline.

**ENJOY!!**

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Diederick Grunewald was nervous; his mate should have been back with their coven's dinner already. He paced the entrance hall of his grand home with a frown on his face. He had already lost three coven members the two days previous. He admitted it was his fault on all three accounts since he underestimated the cunning of the woman they were after. He was asked to find and capture Bella Swan a few weeks ago when rumor placed her in his territory. He had at first thought it would be easy to find and capture one human woman; that was until one of his coven members, Franz, came back badly injured and horribly charred. He decided they had to rethink their plan since the Grunewald Coven only had four members now, one that was still recovering from his encountered with the woman even now. As he paced and waited he cursed the Cullens, he was unaware of the eyes watching him.

Golden eyes glowed as they caught the moonlight for a second. Those eyes took in the form of the pacing vampire cautiously before suddenly the eyes disappeared. They reappeared on the other side of the old castle like mansion, peering into a window to a vampire couple. The eyes recognized the slowly healing male vampire but didn't recognize the female with him. Assessing the situation the eyes disappeared once more only to reappear peering into the entrance hall.

Leaning back on the heels of her feet Bella Swan contemplated what her next move should be. Deciding the male vampire in the entrance hall would be the best one to take out first, she started to make a plan of attack. It took a day and a half of tracking to find where this vampire coven was, then another half a day to observe their habits. Luckily enough for her, one of the vampires had seen it fit to leave the safety of their home. That female vampire was easily taken down and her crest now sat in Bella's coat pocket. She knew from observing the coven, that the vampire pacing in the entrance hall had the ability to predict, with certainty, another's movements. She would have to overcome that advantage if she wanted to kill the vampire. Luckily enough for her, she had the element of surprise that she was going to use to her full advantage. She didn't know if her ability to block telepathic powers would work against this vampire and she wasn't going to try to find out either.

She waited in a ready position on her tree branch for the vampire to turn to make another round across the entrance hall floor. Once he did, she struck. Diederick didn't know what hit him as he felt his legs being swept out from under him. Not even a second later he saw a flash of golden silver before he was cut right down the center from head to sternum. A few more seconds of slashing Bella tossed some gasoline on the vampire before lighting a match. As the vampire's body began to burn away she pocketed the ring that had the Grunewald crest on it. Knowing the smell of smoke would alert the other vampires, Bella easily and quickly jumped into the wooden rafters of the entrance hall and waited. A minute later, the female vampire from the other side of the mansion rushed in.

Bella watched as the vampire became hysterical at the sight of the burning dead vampire. She crouched down and waited for just the right moment. Once that moment came, she was on the female vampire like lightning, already tearing into it with her claws before it had a chance to understand the situation. Another vampire down and burning, another crest pocketed into her coat. Bella now knew she had to turn her attention to the other vampire in the mansion. He may not be much, but he was a good fighter and survivor, Bella learned that when he and three others jumped her in Stuttgart. Moving at speeds that made her seem like a blur even to vampires, she flicked down the hall until she got to his room.

"Frau Swan, I know you are there." The vampire said in his thick German accent. "I knew the minute I smelt the smoke."

"Then you know I'm here to kill you." Bella said appearing before the vampire.

Franz Grunewald wasn't afraid of many things after his long life as a vampire, but he could honestly say this woman terrified him more than the Volturi ever could. He could see the warrior in her golden eyes, eyes that looked so much like but weren't at all the same as a vegetarian vampire. He knew she wasn't like the Volturi who cared about etiquette or laws; she was as wild as her appearance seemed to be. Her long soft untamable brown hair that easily went to her knees in length, her sleek yet toned sun tanned body, her wild eyes and sharp teeth. He had never encountered a woman quite like her before, not even his Ana, who he knew was already dead by now. Looking over the woman before him, he took in her brown leather vest-like halter-top that hinted at her generous bosom and toned stomach, the form fitting blue jean clad shapely legs, the waist length black form fitting leather coat, and the black slightly scruffy and muddy combat boots. He also noticed the golden silver claws that had already nearly been his undoing once before, when he last fought her. Although she didn't have the dark gold metal plates under both of her eyes that seemed to follow her cheek bone, he wondered if they were retractable as well. He could see why she was underestimated, wily and sleek she practically oozed sexual confidence and strength without seeming to be very intimidating.

"Ja, I know. Had I not been stuck to this couch because of the spine damage you caused me, I would have enjoyed fighting you once more." Franz said after a minute of just observing the woman. "But may I ask before I die, why is it you hunt and kill those of my kind?"

"Your kind has been hunting me and has tried to kill me more than once, I much rather kill those who want to kill me first, before they can accomplish their task." Bella said coldly getting a nod from the vampire. He accepted her statement and also accepted his fate, so she didn't hesitate to finish the wounded vampire off. It wasn't long before his crest joined the rest of his covens' crests resting in her jacket pocket. She didn't take anything else from the vampire home and simply left the way she came.

Bella sighed as she made her way through the forest back to her bike. She couldn't believe she was now twenty three years old and hunting vampires of all things, let alone that she was in Germany. Looking back on it she decided her life took a turn for the completely strange when she was abducted by that crazy scientist Dr. G, who was still trying to capture her even now. It had gotten so bad at one point that Bella and Madison split up, Bella went to Europe and Madison headed for Asia. Bella had to hand it to the crazy doctor, she was quite persistent. Although Bella really wished the HYDRA scientist was better at assigning codenames.

**Flashback**

Bella was walking back to her truck with some burgers. They had gotten a flat and managed to pull into a nearby Texaco to fix it. While Madison worked on replacing the tire, Bella opted to go get some lunch from the Wendy's next door to the gas station. Bella also made a mental note to get gas while they were there since they were running a bit low. As she walked through the parking lot of the fast food joint she let her eyes wander over the small quite New Mexico town the two were in.

Madison and Bella honestly didn't have a plan for their road trip and after two months found themselves skirting along the southern states. The two stopped for a short while in Phoenix but didn't stay long since they still had HYDRA after them. Luckily enough they kept in contact with Conrad and his two friends. Felix had managed to make a secure line they could communicate over so they weren't in a danger of someone tracking their calls or webcam conversations.

As Bella looked back at the truck she was amused to find her blonde friend sitting on the hood talking to Felix over the computer. "No Felix, I don't think we'll be skipping country just yet. We may be desperate to find a place to hide from those HYDRA bastards, but we aren't that desperate yet." Madison was saying as Bella walked up to the truck.

"I know but I'm just saying it would be easy for you to lose them there. They don't have much of a solid structure in terms of a full organization. It is mostly small fractions working together these days, the government organization S.H.I.E.L.D. saw to that." Felix said with a shrug. "From what I gather through a few contacts I've made, your stalker Dr. G isn't on very good terms with the guy that runs HYDRA's operations in Mexico."

"Well at least that is good to hear, if we're desperate we can always go there to gain a few days up on them. How are their relations elsewhere?" Bella asked setting down the take out bag.

"Eh, all the same pretty much. Some fractions have better relations with others but for the most part the main HYDRA organization seems to be mostly American based. That's not to say they don't have bases all over the world, it's just most of their connections seem to lead back to the Nazis and the US." Felix said with a shrug.

"Charming, Neo-Nazis are after our blood." Madison said making Bella snort.

"So, have you managed to work out all that stuff I sent you on that USB drive?" Bella asked getting a large amused grin from Felix. Surprised by the response the two girls shared a look and turned back to him.

"Well I haven't yet found much on James Howlett or Victor Creed, but I haven't checked many archives, though the DNA test seems legitimate enough. I'm still looking into it and other connections HYDRA has made, but I've found the files they've created for you." Felix said and Bella had a funny feeling she wasn't going to like what she heard.

"Let me guess they wanted to give us fancy nicknames as well." Bella said with a snort.

"Good guess, since you're right. Dr. G was gracious enough to give you two both codenames while in her care." Felix said and Madison perked up.

"Really what are they?" Madison asked looking like a five year old waiting for a surprise present.

"Well she decided that Mad's codename should be Silverpool which kind of fits if you think about it." Felix said thoughtfully.

"It's more like a silver puddle than a silver pool but whatever." Bella said while Madison cheered the coolness of her name.

"So what's Bell's codename?" Madison asked after calming down a bit.

"Coyote." Felix said with a smirk. Both girls blinked for a second before Madison howled with laughter and Bella glared at him.

"What the hell?" Bella asked with her eyebrow twitching. "She could have come up with a hell of a lot more names and she settles on Coyote? What sort of crack was she on?"

"Awe, come on Wile E. you would make a great coyote." Madison said teasingly before dodging a fist to the face from an overly annoyed Bella.

"You have to admit she has a point, you and Wile E. Coyote have a lot in common actually. After all you're very smart and adaptive but perhaps not the most graceful pup in the park." Felix teased with a chuckle of his own.

"Oh don't you start too; I'm still wondering if that lady has a vendetta against me I don't know about." Bella growled at the computer while Madison ended up on the ground giggling hysterically.

"Or it could just be since you're related to Wolverine and Sabertooth she thought you'd feel left out without an animal codename." Felix pointed out with a slight snicker. "Besides, have you taken a good look at your armor when it's fully out? You definitely have markings like a coyote and the color of your armor doesn't help to persuade against that."

"Har, har, har, laugh it up all you want, it's not like you guys will ever get to call me that." Bella muttered with a disdainful sniff.

**End Flashback**

Bella shook her head realizing those were her famous last words. Ever since Conrad found out about the codenames he thought they would be useful. So, as much as Bella hated to admit it for the first year and a half, she was called Coyote. After a while she figured she should get used to the name and soon made it her own. It wasn't the most horrible codename ever and considering how easy it was to hide it in a coded message it was a plus. When the group was passing around coded messages Madison's codename had been shortened to simply Pool to hide her identity. Otherwise the blonde was adamant that her codename was Silverpool.

It wasn't long after that conversation that the two mutants were first attacked by vampires. It had been a relatively uneventful week, and then suddenly vampires started to spring up. Bella had thought the two of them were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but soon that theory was out the window when they learned the bloodsuckers were after Bella. The girls never got an exact reason why the vampires were after Bella, but they knew it had something to do with the brunette's association with the Cullens. Once they understood that, their attention went from simply protecting themselves to hunting down information.

Their hunt for information had turned into a long five years of continuous adventures. They looked for the Cullens, dodged HYDRA, made more friends, and worked on their powers. The extensive work Bella put into her physical condition had increased her agility, strength, and stamina passed normal human levels. She also was at the level of an Olympic gymnast, but she wasn't really one to go for flips and fancy moves. Her fighting style had always been fast and precise; she didn't know why some fighters would pull a dramatic move when a simple punch or kick could deal with the problem easily enough. Also she increased her mental capabilities as well, for one she got a better understanding of computers. She had gotten a few degrees over the internet and liked to do private research. She didn't showcase this intelligence though, preferring the quiet life of an acclaimed author over that of a scientist any day.

Her four acclaimed novels Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn were best sellers around the world. They were also a good reflective and psychological experience for Bella. She got to look back and analyze her time with the Cullens in Forks. She was annoyed to note that the Cullens hadn't really told her much about vampires or their culture. The one solid thing she really knew about was how to kill them, James taught her that. She reanalyzed her relationship with Edward and wondered not for the first time what she was thinking. She understood the lure of immortality but really, she had been too much of a child to understand the true scope of what it was. She also noted that Edward just used her feelings to try and figure the puzzle of her out. Madison told her, after learning everything, that perhaps Bella's mutant powers had been slowly awakening even back then without her realizing it. It made sense now, since she could control her scent and shield her mind extensively as well as the minds of others from mental attacks. It could have been a subconscious thing on Bella's part to lure Edward in because she was intrigued by his beauty and immortality. Thinking of it that way she knew she was partially at fault for everything that had happened between them, but instead of leaving her alone it seemed the Cullen coven had come back to haunt her.

Her novels also allowed her to analyze each of the Cullens' personalities. She knew Carlisle meant well but he obviously was lacking in the common sense area. He was so stuck on trying to save everyone that he didn't realize what he condemned Rosalie, Emmett, and Edward too. To an extent he damned Esme as well but not as much, because the female vampire had been a full adult at the time. Bella knew Esme was perhaps the most adjusted of the coven aside from Carlisle, but that was mostly because she wasn't turned as a teenager. She had time to grow and learn, letting her mind and morals to develop to their fullest. She could also see why the woman had such a hard time reaching the Cullen "children".

Rosalie was young minded and too hung up on her death to really see what was going on around her. Bella did acknowledge of the coven Rosalie would be the most likely one to help protect them from themselves, simply because she was so paranoid. However despite this paranoia it didn't do much help when the vampire was so narcissistic. Sure she cared about her family, but Rosalie's main priority was Rosalie, she was also a scared coward. She hid behind Emmett who followed her like a puppy since she had "saved" him. Bella had no doubt that if Rosalie ever landed in a situation where it was a choice between her family and her life, Rosalie would ultimately choose herself.

Emmett on the other hand tended to go from competition to competition; he didn't show his lust for violence by going out to start fights. No, Emmett Cullen lived vicariously through competitive situations, Bella could tell that by giving just the right push he would become a battle crazed monster. He proved that he was always ready for the next competition, the next battle of wills. If he ever got into a situation where it was a free for all fist fight, he would lose his values and fall victim to his lust for battle. It was probably one of the reasons why he chose animal blood over human, animals could run faster and were stronger fighters than humans were. It wasn't because he liked humans or anything; it was because people wouldn't prove the fight to sate his need for violence.

Then there was Alice. Bella had once thought of the pixie vampire as a friend, but now saw her as a control freak. The vampire was so reliant on her gift and to make things how she saw them that she often manipulated people into getting her end result. Bella saw it back during James' hunt for her. Alice had gotten that vision of Bella's old dance studio and regardless as to how much Edward and the others tried to stop it, that's where the final battle took place and Bella nearly died. Bella had no doubt the pixie vampire saw Bella going to their house for her birthday party and pushed to make that happen, she had even gone so far as to get her mate to manipulate Bella into going. In the end it was Alice's way or no way, and simply put, it was because Alice had the gift to see the future so she knew what was best.

Jasper was a hard one to figure out, and had up until recently eluded Bella's understanding. The Texan vampire was aloof and could feel and manipulate emotions, a gift that on the surface seemed rather harmless. That was until Bella truly thought of what Jasper was capable of, he could drive someone into a deep dark depression with a single whim. She also recalled his reason for drinking animal blood was because he didn't want to feel his victims die. That proved to her that he was still a human bloodsucker at heart and would always be one. It wasn't so much that Jasper didn't like feeling his human victims die, it was the fact that he felt as if he was dying with them. He also got out of commanding the newborn army, supposedly because he was tired of it, but then Bella recalled what the Cullens told her about newborns. It was that, and a fight Bella had with another vampire a few months ago, that put into perspective Jasper's motives for not only being Alice's mate but following her every command. The Texan was afraid of dying, terrified of it in fact. He listened to Alice like an obedient puppy because she wouldn't let him die. He got away from the newborn army so he wouldn't die at their hand, and he lived with the Cullens because he didn't want to feel like he was dying with any of his victims. Bella knew for Jasper at the very end he would do anything to seek sympathy and to keep from dying.

Finally, the last of the children, Edward; Bella had thought long and hard about the vampire. He first caught her attention in the cafeteria because of his beauty and mystery. He had kept himself interesting and elusive to keep her coming back to him. He also was infatuated with the scent of her blood and the mystery of her mental shield. He had done everything to keep her interested but at arm's length until he deemed the puzzle of her too dangerous to figure out. He was like a spoiled child that only found interest in things that he didn't already have. When Jasper nearly attacked her on her birthday, he nearly lost his prized puzzle and that was unacceptable since he wasn't done with her yet. So he left and after some time he and his kind waltz right back into her life, she had no doubt he wanted to finish what he started but she would not be used by him again. She knew his love had been cold just like his touch and it stung her pride that she hadn't realized until she had already fallen once for the bloodsucker.

But really, she couldn't complain much about how her life ended up. Sure it had its ups and downs all the time, but it was interesting. On one hand she was the quiet recluse multi-millionaire author Susan Meadows, on the other she was the dangerous vampire hunting mutant Coyote; her balance was she would always remain Bella Swan. She was both her aliases and she knew just how much of herself to put in each one to find a balance in the life she lived. Since nowadays such as in her last award winning novel Shadow Hunter, she could write about some of the adventures she went through as Coyote with the safety of anonymity as Susan Meadows. Not only that but the group of mutants she had acquired to help her with her vampire problem were all very close, almost like a second family. She had long decided to live her life to the fullest and take each day at a time. The only thing stopping her from fully achieving this goal was the still unresolved issue of Edward Cullen and HYDRA. She knew however, that it was only a matter of time before she at least dealt with her vampire problem; the terrorist problem would take more planning and time than she had at the moment, so while it wasn't an immediate threat it was treated with caution.

As she reached her bike she sighed happily. The black Harley was a much newer model than the one she left in storage in the states, but it still brought her a comfort she normally didn't have. Slipping on her helmet and swinging her leg over the seat she started the engine. She needed to get back to the hotel she was staying at, she had been gone much longer than she would have liked. After all, she didn't want to become negligent of one of the duties she now had since leaving Forks.

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YAY!! But I find introductory chapters to be very annoying to write. I think it's because even if this is a sequel I somehow lost the flow I had just yesterday while writing the last chapter to Solar Eclipse. It took me two edits to get it up to my standards, but I'm sure in the next two or three chapters I'll get the flow going again. Right well this obviously is a glimpse of what Bella's been doing to help put in focus the setting. You will find out more in the next chapter or two but I think I touched on some of the major things for now. I'm still cleaning my house for when my aunt arrives tomorrow so I don't know if I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow or not. Usually I'm good at juggling my time to get at least two hours of writing in and maybe an hour of editing but I don't know this time. Anyway, tell me how y'all liked the beginning and any suggestions you may have. It's quite simple to do you just have to:

REVIEW!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Yes, I managed to find enough time to get this one done. Although I still have some stuff to do, so I won't get started on the next chapter until later today probably. Just as a note I'm horrible at writing accents so I've added a few words to define who has what accent when they appear. I kind of pulled them off of the google translator so if they're wrong it's not really my fault. Anyway, I would like to thank those who have reviewed, alerted, or favorited this story already. I will try to make it so the next chapter is up tomorrow but again no promises.

**Disclaimer**: I only own the OCs and plotline.

**ENJOY!!**

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Bella pulled into the parking lot of the small motel she was renting in Germany. Idly she wondered if the postcards she sent Billy and Sue had reached them yet. Cutting the engine to her Harley she got off the bike and made her way to her room. She figured she could always call the two Native Americans sometime in the future to check up on them. She made a point to call at least once a month and seeing as it was nearly the end of April it was about time for her to call again. She liked the normalcy that the two older adults gave her when she called; their problems seemed so simple compared to hers. Billy was doing well, enjoying the quiet life. Bella found out that Jacob now ran a car shop out of his home, fixing up cars for money. Sue was doing well; she was selling baked goods for local fundraisers and such. Bella learned that Sue was still taking care of her children who were doing well from what Sue said. In all things were quiet back in La Push, it was nice compared to dodging bullets, androids, vampires, mutants, and other such crazy things Bella had run into.

Getting to the door of her hotel room, she slipped the key in as she knocked a small code on the door. A few seconds later she opened the door and sighed in relief. Sleeping on the only bed in the room was a young boy with wavy black hair that went to his shoulders. He was eleven years old, had slightly tan skin thanks to the time he spent in the sun, and was wearing his pajamas that had spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds all over it. Bella took off her helmet and shut the door after giving the room a once over. She had to smile at the boy sprawled out on the mattress among a collection of drawing pads, books, and not far away his PSP, games, and the remote for the television.

Putting her helmet down on the desk provided by the motel she took off her riding gloves and leather jacket. Kicking off her boots she began to clean up the area around the boy. "Mère?" The boy asked sleepy.

"Hey there kiddo." Bella answered as she watched his crimson on black eyes open sleepily.

"Mère, you're back. Did you get them?" The boy asked launching at Bella and giving her a big hug making her laugh.

"Yes, I got them. I hope you kept yourself entertained alright; I didn't mean to be gone long. Did the food last?" Bella asked getting a nod from the boy who was still quite sleepy.

"Oui, everything lasted like you said it would." The boy said with a yawn as Bella put away the mess the boy had made while she was gone.

"Are you still tired? How are your ribs doing?" Bella asked in concern looking the boy over.

"They are fine mère; they are still sore but haven't given me problems." The boy said getting a nod from Bella. "What time is it?"

"Late, about eleven." Bella said putting the last of the books away. "Did you study while I was away?"

"Oui, I almost finished the book you want me to read." The boy said with a yawn.

"Good, go back to sleep now Grant, I'm not going anywhere." Bella said getting a nod from the boy.

"Oui mère." He muttered getting under the covers this time and snuggling down.

Bella smiled seeing the boy go back to sleep before she turned to her duffle bag that held their clothes. She didn't really like traveling from motel to motel but she didn't have a choice. She had run into HYDRA operatives in Moscow a few weeks back and had to move them. Looking back over the boy she knew her decision was a sound one. She would do anything to keep this boy safe; after all he was her adopted son.

A little over four years ago she had been tracking down a vampire coven in New Orleans. One of the vampires had gotten away from her and had hidden in the French Quarter. It took a day but Bella had tracked down the vampire, when she did she found it in a small apartment. Bella had noted the one dead body and was looking for the vampire when she noticed it was trying to get into a closet. It was pretty easy for Bella to kill the vampire; it had been so focused on the closet the bloodsucker hadn't even heard her enter. It took a bit of poking around to see what had caught the vampire's attention when she ran into a force field. It was made out of a thin layer of reddish energy that vibrated when it came in contact with something. Instead of trying to break the force field like the vampire was doing, she tried to coax whatever was in the closet out. That's when she met her adopted son Bertram Guerrant Leroux.

Grant, as he liked to be called, had been just six years old when Bella had found him. Frightened and upset that he saw his mother killed by a vampire the young mutant had hidden in his closet. At first Bella was slightly taken aback by his strange eyes but after a second accepted them easily. His mutation wasn't only his eyes or the fact that he could create physical force fields, Bella learned quickly he could also manipulate kinetic energy and put it into objects to make them explode. It was a useful power against vampires but also a potentially deadly power anywhere else, so Bella worked with him to control it. She even managed to use some of Conrad and Felix's contacts to quickly get legal guardianship of Grant. In the end Grant decided that he wanted this name to be Bertram Guerrant Leroux Swan, he had wanted to change his first name but Bella had talked him out of it. But he mostly went by the name Grant Swan when being addressed by people.

Shaking her head she looked over to her adopted son once more before pulling out her own pajamas and heading to the small bathroom to take a quick shower. She was worried about her son if she was going to be honest with herself. A few days ago in Stuttgart they had been ambushed by some members of the Grunewald coven and Grant hadn't put up his force field in time. The boy suffered a few broken ribs because of his small lapse and Bella was still cursing herself. She had let them get ambushed since she hadn't been paying that much attention to her surroundings, so she blamed herself for Grant's injuries.

As she stripped and got into the shower she wondered if she was raising the boy right. In all accounts she was very protective of him, something animalistic and maternal in her demanded she take care of the boy. She even caught herself referring to him as her pup from time to time; something that she swore was part of the instincts she awoke when she first became a mutant. Bella honestly wanted to raise Grant right and give him as great a life as she possibly was capable of. It was for that reason she wanted to clear up the mess she was in with the vampires.

As she washed her hair she decided she would take Grant out to do something fun. It had been nearly a month since they last did something entertaining, and that was when they spent a whole day at an arcade in St. Petersburg. She knew he was still a child and like all children he needed fun in his life, rather than having to worry about death threats and a bitchy home schooling mother. She also contemplated heading back to the states and letting Renee take care of him for a week or two.

She thought back to the time Madison, Grant, and she had gone to Florida to stay with Renee. Madison and Bella finally agreed that they had to skip country by then thanks to HYDRA closing in on them. So after a lot of debating they headed to Florida and from there they were going to Cuba before heading to Mexico, then to South America. It was during their stay that Renee had found out that all three were mutants. To Bella's surprise, Renee acted as if nothing was wrong with that tidbit of information. In fact Bella found out that Renee's own parents had been mutants as well. Apparently Renee's father had a precognitive ability and her mother had telepathy and some minor pyro-kinesis. Renee never had an active mutant ability but she had very good instincts growing up, it was part of the reason why Bella's mother was so honest all the time. Also Bella was delighted that Renee absolutely adored Grant. The young Cajun had been bombarded by love from his new grandmother since he first stepped foot into her house. Renee also made sure Bella knew that any of her mutant friends were welcome at the Dwyer house should they ever need a place to stay. Bella's stepfather had also made them know that if they needed anything he'd do his best to help them out. While Phil may not have known mutants before or really have an opinion of them, the man was very family oriented. Since Bella was Renee's daughter that was all Phil really needed to make his decision on the matter.

Knowing the option was always available Bella contemplated it for the first time in over a year. It wouldn't hurt and it would give Bella a bit more freedom, but the brunette knew it would only be a matter of time until one of her enemies tracked her son down. Sighing in slight annoyance Bella focused instead on finishing her shower. Once out of the shower, dried, and dressed Bella decided the best she could do for now was to ask Grant what he wanted to do in the morning. A child he may be but she had long since tried to treat him like he was a person and not a pet she kept around for her entertainment.

The next day Bella woke up to Grant accidently whacking her in the face with his arm. Fighting her first instinct of lashing out at her attacker, Bella sat up grumbling about cheap hotels and one bed rooms. Yawning and stretching she looked down at her son who was trying to take up as much of the bed as he possibly could. Chuckling she got out of bed and began to get ready for the day. "Grant honey, time to wake up!" She called hearing a groan and muttering protest from the bed.

"Mère, five more minutes." Grant grumbled turning over before hissing in pain. Bella sighed as she got dressed.

"No Grant, get up, you can't sleep the whole day away." Bella said gently lifting her son out of bed and putting him on his feet on the floor. He sent her a sleepy-eyed glare before yawning widely.

"Mon dieu! Mère, what are we doing up so early?" Grant asked as Bella checked the clock.

"It's only eight Grant; besides I think it's about time we go have some fun. You get to pick what we do today." Bella said with a grin. "Also watch your language young man, I know those Frenchmen have taught you some impolite things but you don't have to use it."

"But mère, I didn't say anything too horrible." Grant muttered as he was handed his clothes for the day and gently pushed towards the bathroom door.

"True but you will if I allow it." Bella said hearing him grumbling about mothers before he closed the door. Shaking her head she picked up her hair brush and began to brush her hair out. Tying the long strands into a braid she waited for her son to finish getting ready. She also began gathering all their stuff back into their duffle bag. She had a feeling that they were going to have to be moving quickly so she got ready to check out of the motel.

"So mère, you said we can do anything I want to today right?" Grant asked coming out of the bathroom.

"Within reason yes, we haven't done anything really fun in a while." Bella said with a smile.

"I wouldn't say that, fighting those vampires was fun. I got to charge one up and let it explode." Grant said getting a look from Bella. Honestly she wondered if she was raising him right or not, hopefully she could instill some morals in him before he grew up. "I mean, it was much better than having to do school work."

"Uh-huh, I know you like to read ahead in your school books so don't even try it mister. Just don't use your powers on real humans and I won't see the need to punish you severely." Bella said getting a nod from the boy. "Now what should we do today?"

"I want to go to the circus!" Grant said making Bella blink.

"The circus? Okay, we haven't done that before. Let's go check out the circus." Bella said with a helpless amusement. She watched as Grant gave a happy cheer. "Now let's pack up, I think it's time we get moving again."

"Okay, where are we going this time?" Grant asked as he started to rush around getting his backpack of toys and such ready.

"I don't know yet, we'll decide after we go to the circus." Bella said with a smile. It took a few minutes longer than it normally did to pack up. Grant was usually very helpful but with his broken ribs it made things a bit difficult. However it wasn't long before the two were on Bella's motorcycle and off towards the closest circus that happened to be a few towns away.

While Grant enjoyed the circus, Bella kept a watchful eye on her surroundings. She was amused to watch the little boy race around with other children, making sure to keep his sunglasses on to hide his eyes. She even took a few pictures of what they were up to so she could send some to Sue and Billy. Bella had managed to swing by La Push for a day two years ago and she brought Grant with her. She didn't run into Jacob, Leah, or Seth but the two mutants had fun anyway. At the time Bella just wrote Grant's need for his sunglasses off as a genetic defect that made his eyes exceptionally vulnerable to the sun. Bella knew both Sue and Billy loved the little Cajun like another nephew even if they thought he had an eye condition. So as she snapped photos for her adopted aunt and uncle she got a good laugh when one of the little girls pulled Grant's hair out of his customary ponytail. The two children ran around the petting zoo before Bella took pity on the boy and called him over to put his hair back in its' ponytail using a spare hair tie she had with her.

After a while the show began to start and the two mutants went into the big tent with the rest of the families. The circus was a well recognized one that had a good reputation, both for its acts and for its treatment of its animals. Bella honestly was more amused to watch Grant's face shift between wonder and amazement to awe and surprise rather than seeing the acts play out. In all she was having a good time and she could tell Grant was as well. That was until she spotted a man standing near one of the exits. Although the man looked like a regular person off the streets, Bella's instincts screamed at her that he was off for some reason. It wasn't until she saw him turn slightly and saw the gun near his belt that she knew why. He looked dangerous and carried himself like a professional soldier, like something HYDRA would send after her.

Mentally nodding to herself, Bella turned back to the circus acts. She decided it was definitely time to leave if her paranoia was haunting her. Leaning back in her seat she smiled slightly knowing exactly where she wanted to go. She just hoped Amanda was still there when the two got there. It would mean Grant would get the medical treatment Bella wanted him to have without any questions being asked. It would also mean up to four months of relaxation, but for now she kept an eye on the man, her son, and what the circus had to offer. Her dark brown eyes gazed over a rather fit man with the body of an Olympian god; oh yes, Bella Swan really did like the circus alright.

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YAY!! More of what Bella's been up to, though not in much detail I'm sure. Points to anyone who can guess who Grant maybe related to, if you know I would like to say he's one of my favorite mutants. I won't say yet how they're related, you'll have to ponder that on your own, but yea. Anyway don't worry about Madison, she'll be making an appearance sooner or later. Sorry about how short the chapter is but I'm sure y'all know I like to focus a bit on character building and such every now and then. Plus I think having Bella being responsible for someone else has also helped curve her anger issues a bit. Otherwise I think I would have a very dangerous rampaging mutant on my hands and that would have thrown my outline completely out the window, so Grant saves the day. Anyway, until next time:

REVIEW!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Wow, it's getting late but I did update today so I'm happy. Yea, anyway not much to say just I don't really have that many reviews. Anyway, I will thank those that have favorited or alerted this story though. Um, yea, I don't know if there will be an update tomorrow since I still have to write out that chapter and I will get to sleep in. I will try but no promises.

**Disclaimer**: Still only own the OCs and plotline.

**ENJOY!!**

* * *

If there was one thing both Grant and Bella agreed upon it was they both hated British weather. Grant despised the temperature since he much rather be back in Louisiana. Bella disliked how much London reminded her of a much larger and busier Forks Washington. However, London was where the two found themselves only a few days after they went to the circus. They had gone to Amsterdam then made their way to London England. The trip only had a slight bump along the way when a group of army personal came out of nowhere and attacked the two. By now both were pretty used to the whole routine, but unfortunately Bella's bike suffered a fatal hit by rocket launcher. Bella still was in a horrible mood about it but Grant had long gotten used to his mother's surly attitude from time to time.

"So mère, what are we doing here?" Grant asked as the two walked down the busy streets of London to a rather nice hotel. Money be damned, Bella decided she could afford having two separate beds this time around. After all, HYDRA had a hard time operating in the UK thanks to a few well placed government task forces, so the only threat to the two mutants here would be a vampire one.

"Well for one I need to relax a bit and this is one of the few places we can do that with relative safety. Also Andy and Conrad are here in London for a while so Andy can take a look at your injuries." Bella said with a smile.

"Why are tante Andy and oncle Conrad here?" Grant asked looking up at his mother who grinned.

"Conrad is here to give a speech at the Institution of Cancer Research here in London; Andy came with to assist him." Bella answered as they finally made it to their hotel. "Well come on, we have to check in and then I have to make a few phone calls. You can get started on that work I assigned you while I'm doing that."

"Oui mère." Grant said following Bella into the hotel. Once in their new hotel room that was a rather nice suite, the two got settled. Bella didn't know how long they were going to stay in London but knew they'd be there for at least three weeks. While neither Grant nor Bella particularly liked the weather they liked the city itself. The few times they stayed in London they had always had a blast, and it was one of the few places were Bella felt like she could let down her guard a bit and get away with it. As Grant started to work through his workbook Bella pulled out her cell phone.

"Amanda Leblanc speaking how may I help you?" A voice on the other end asked after a few rings.

"Hey Andy, it's me Bella." Bella said with a smirk. The brunette always did like the older woman, even way back when Bella first met her. Amanda had been the calm yet firm and caring person that every one of Bella's friends needed from time to time; even Bella had to admit she needed the black haired woman sometimes to just talk to. Although it didn't come as a surprise to anyone that knew Amanda that she ended up marrying her boyfriend Conrad. When Bella first met the two she hadn't known they were dating until maybe a month after the whole Dr. G thing happened, but soon everything about their friendship had made sense after that. Anyway, three years back the now thirty and thirty one year olds tied the knot. From what Bella heard the two were just now thinking about maybe having children and she didn't doubt they would make good parents.

"Oh! Hello Bella, how are you? Where are you?" Amanda said happily.

"I'm fine; Grant and I are in London as we speak. I'm just calling because a few days back we ran into a bit of trouble in Stuttgart, the bloodsucking kind. We're both okay but Grant broke a few ribs and I was hoping if you don't mind could you check them out? I know they're probably okay but I can't help but be a little paranoid." Bella said with a sigh.

"Don't worry, I have time right now. Conrad has a meeting with some of the researchers at the institute. Just tell me where you two are and I'll be right over." Amanda said making Bella mentally sigh in relief. Honestly all the worrying Bella did she was surprised Grant hadn't given her grays yet.

"Thank you Andy, I don't know what I'd do without you." Bella said before giving Amanda their hotel and room number before hanging up. It only took Amanda about ten minutes to get there since her own hotel was only a few blocks away.

"Tante Andy!" Grant greeted happily giving the woman a big hug. "I missed you, how's oncle Conrad?"

"He's good, still pestering me about throwing out his Hawaiian t-shirts." Amanda said with a warm smile. "Honestly the man is brilliant but you'd hardly know it with how much he acts like some sort of beach bum."

"But oncle is cool; he let me grow bacteria in one of his Petri dishes the last time we visited." Grant said with a grin.

"Oh? And where did you get the bacteria?" Amanda asked wondering what her husband was up to now. She was certain that if Bella wasn't careful Grant would grow up to be a scientist, probably majoring in the field of chemistry so he could have a chance to blow things up.

"The bottom of the shoes in the closet." Grant answered innocently.

"What closet?" Bella asked already knowing her son enough to know he wasn't telling them the whole truth.

"The one in oncle Dolph's room." Grant answered and both women looked at each other before sighing.

"Did Dolph know you were in his room?" Bella asked curiously even though she knew the answer was probably a negative.

"No, but he didn't seem to think anything was wrong." Grant said before tilting his head. "So why are you here tante?"

"Well Bella said you broke some ribs and you know how paranoid your mom can be." Amanda teased.

"Hey! My paranoia has helped me plenty of times, usually to avoid possible threats." Bella said getting a snicker from Grant. "Fine, I know when you two are about to gang up on me. I'm going to go make a few calls so can you watch him for a little while if you don't mind Andy?"

"I'd never turn down watching my nephew. He's absolutely perfect company and quite adorable too." Amanda said making Grant grin smugly at his mother who rolled her eyes at them.

Bella made her way out of earshot of anyone she could sense before pulling out her cell phone once more. Dialing a number that was practically ingrained into her mind she waited for it to be answered. "Yo Madison speaking how can I help you?" A voice said when it finally stopped ringing.

"Hey Mad, it's me Bella." Bella said with a smile happy to talk to her best friend again. They really hadn't been in contact for the past four weeks and that made Bella worry a bit.

"BELL! Oh my god! I tried to call you earlier but you didn't pick up and I was too lazy to leave a message." Madison said and Bella could practically hear the shrug in the blonde's voice.

"It's alright; Grant and I were in the air on our way to London, so I turned off my cell phone." Bella said leaning against a wall. "So found out anything significant?"

"Nothing much really, Hiro and I aren't finding much on the vampire front but there's a lot about HYDRA we did come across. Bell they know a lot more about Grant than we suspected and I think they may be gearing up to track the two of you down, and I don't mean for a simple bout of afternoon tea." Madison said making Bella sigh as she pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her coat.

"I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this. Those bastards really are starting to piss me off more than usual. So what do you think I should do about keeping Grant safe?" Bella asked lighting a cigarette and starting to smoke it.

"Stay with him for one, I don't think they'll do much if you're around. That incident back in Moscow drove home how dangerous you can be. As long as he's with you they'll probably air on the side of caution for now. Logistically they know they need more than a simple strike team to take you down, let alone get close enough to capture Grant. Otherwise they would have already gotten him a year ago." Madison said getting an agreeing grunt form Bella. "Aside from that Japan really isn't all that useful. China was a hell of a lot more wealthy in the area of information, especially about vampires. Although I can't say Japan is entirely boring."

"What makes you say that?" Bella asked blowing out some smoke as she put her pack of cigarettes and her lighter away.

"There are a few mutant groups over here and let me tell you they sure know how to fight. Although there's this one mutant, Daken, he's a crazy SOB if I ever saw one. He kind of reminds me of your grandfather Logan in terms of powers. Anyway, he's been stalking me for the last few weeks, nearly tried to kill me two days ago but I managed to give him the slip. I've been trying to gather information about him but his background seems extremely clean. I faxed all I could to Felix this morning in hopes he could help shed some light on the man." Madison said with an amused snort.

"Interesting, have you talked to Dolph or Dante yet?" Bella asked wondering what sort of mess her friend had gotten into now. She just hoped their other friend Hiro could keep Madison out of trouble.

"Yea, Dante had some interesting news about the vampires in the Amazon. Apparently the Cullens have a few friends still in England that we missed in the first sweep. He said that one vampire told him to talk to a Richard Lawrence about the Cullen's friends. He apparently owns and runs the Blue Moon Pub over in Whitechapel. Felix backs up the claim but doesn't know how useful Mr. Lawrence will be, but from the sound of it the man isn't very friendly when it comes to bloodsuckers." Madison said and Bella made a mental note to follow up the lead as soon as possible.

"Thanks Mad, find anything else out?" Bella asked curiously.

"Not much, Dolph says some of the vampires he took out in Africa are adamant that the Cullens are in Canada or Alaska with another vegetarian coven. He's thinking about heading back to the states to check out the lead. He says that Africa isn't really his cup of tea and will be glad to be rid of the dreadful continent." Madison said with a snort.

"Sounds like him, well keep in touch. I think I'll go take a look at that lead of Dante's." Bella said with a smile.

"Don't mention it, but I have to go. I think the shrine I'm staying at isn't going to be such a safe haven soon." Madison said with a grin to her voice.

"Stay safe Mad." Bella responded with a roll of her eyes.

"Likewise Bell." Madison returned before hanging up the phone. Bella flipped her cell phone closed and walked back into the main room of her suite. She was amused to find an annoyed Grant sitting on the lounge couch with his shirt off. Amanda was kneeling next to him gently poking at his ribs.

"Well they are broken alright, from what I can sense they've been healing fine. I'll speed up the healing process by a few weeks but you'll have to watch them carefully. I may be able to fix an adult's bones easily but that's because the bones are fully developed. I don't want to really interfere with the growth of his bones; it could lead to frail bones in the future." Amanda said getting a nod from Bella.

"That sounds like a plan, think you can heal them enough so he doesn't feel any discomfort from them at least?" Bella asked sitting down with a thoughtful look.

"I think I can accomplish that but you mister will need to be on a calcium supplement for a few days at least. Also try not to bump your ribs or put too much pressure on them, they may just break again and the next time much worse than what they are now." Amanda said to Grant who nodded.

"Of course tante Andy." He said knowing Bella would be all over that order for him. Sometimes he loved how overbearing his adopted mom could be about things like that, it meant he wouldn't have to think about it all that much.

"Good, now this I assure you will be slightly uncomfortable." Amanda said as her finger tips seemed to glow ever so faintly with white light. She gently put her fingers to his ribs and Bella smirked at the funny look Grant had on his face. Bella could tell Grant wanted to fidget away from Amanda but he kept as still as possible so as not to prolong the discomfort. "Well that's three done."Amanda said pulling her hand away after about ten minutes.

"Only three? Tante you said I had seven ribs broken." Grant whined.

"Oh hush, you have ribs broken on both sides of your body, and I have to heal them slowly to simulate days of healing in a matter of minutes to trick your immune system into believing it's healing your ribs on its own." Amanda reprimanded calmly.

"How long should the other ribs take?" Bella asked curiously.

"Well it depends since unlike this side, the other side are messier breaks rather than clean ones. It should take me at a minimum an hour." Amanda said while Grant gaped at her.

"An hour? Mon dieu!" Grant exclaimed getting an amused snort from Bella. "Oh be quiet mère, not all of us have super healing abilities." He snapped with an annoyed glare making Bella's smirk turn into a full out grin.

"I know squirt but imagine healing your ribs in seconds rather than minutes, I can trust you that can be more than just uncomfortable." Bella said with a grin.

"Whatever, who did you call?" Grant said as he got to walk around for a bit in preparation for his long wait.

"Mad, she's given me a lead here in London to our vampire problem. Speaking of which, Andy while you're doing this do you mind if I step out? It may take a few minutes or hours I don't really know." Bella asked getting a nod from Amanda.

"Go ahead Bella; I don't mind watching Grant, and Conrad already knows where I am. I think he'll be bringing dinner for us; I'll call after I'm done healing Grant's ribs to find out." Amanda said with a smile.

"Thank you Andy, I still don't know what I'd do without you." Bella said standing up. "Be good for Andy kiddo, I shouldn't be too long."

"Oui mère, I will be on my best behavior." Grant said still rather put out by how long it was going to take to heal his ribs and even after that they wouldn't be fully healed. Bella smiled as she walked over to Grant and ruffled his hair before making her way to the door.

It took her nearly an hour to find the Blue Moon Pub but once she did she was surprised by it. It was obviously an old tavern, especially if the sign was to be believed. She shaking her head she stepped into the nearly two century old pub and had to scrunch up her nose. She never did like going to night clubs, bars, or movie theaters, the smell just never was the most pleasant. She could smell all the sweat, human body odor, alcohol, smoke, cleaning products, and in some cases the bathrooms. She absolutely despised the fact that her sense of smell was so acute, but she got used to it. Though that one time she was dragged to a gay bar by Dolph on a quest to find a vampire she would rather have not had. She didn't have anything wrong with homosexuals, but considering the bar was a rundown little shack that served cheap alcohol and cheap entertainment, she had rather done without. Don't even get her started on how many women hit on her that night, really the sudden smell of blood had been welcoming especially when she managed to find the vampire responsible.

Shaking her head to get rid of the horrible memories she walked over to the bar. Unlike most this one seemed more like a gentleman's bar than anything else. It was quaint but masculine with the smell of cigar smoke and hard liquor heavy in the air. The undertone smells of leather, men, and aftershave also added to the image, not that most would understand what she was talking about. Going over to the bar she sat down, it was still a bit early in the evening but the bar already had a few patrons. She caught a glance of a group of young men in Armani suits smoking and drinking martinis in the corner, they had instantly looked to her when she walked in. At one end of the bar sat an older gentleman also in a nice suit but with a quieter air about him. The final patrons were two middle-age men in a booth near the door that wore stylish clothes and were drinking whiskey.

"Can I get you anything Ms?" The bartender asked while he cleaned a glass.

"I'm looking for Richard Lawrence; do you happen to know him?" She asked simply as she propped her head up using her hand.

"That'd be me Ms, what can I do for you?" The bartender said simply giving her a once over. She figured she looked out of place wearing a red corset halter top, black leather pants, her leather jacket, and her combat boots but she didn't care.

Her sharp eyes looked over Richard Lawrence calmly for a second. She took in his shaggy honey brown hair, gray eyes, and pale skin. He wasn't a very tall man but he was built and obviously not very old. She guessed his age to be anywhere from twenty five to thirty. He was dressed in a simple white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and some black slacks. She would call him handsome if she didn't notice the scar running from his left temple all the way down to the tip of the right side of his lip. The scar didn't cross over his eyes, going between them instead, but it did mar his already average features a bit.

"I'm looking for someone and I hear you might be able help me find him. His name is Edward Cullen." Bella said simply noticing the ever so slight freeze of his movements but it happened so quickly most would have missed it.

"That so, well I don't know anyone by that name. Does he have any friends I know perhaps?" Richard asked looking at her slightly suspiciously.

"I suppose you could say that." Bella said pulling out a crest from one of the vampire coven's she had helped exterminate in England. "Maybe this will help?" She asked sliding the crest over to the man who did freeze upon seeing it.

"Where did you get this Ms, and who are you?" Richard asked picking up the crest with just the slightest shake of his hand.

"My name is Bella Swan, as for this, you could say I inherited it after Vincent died. Such a horrible thing really, it was so sudden. My friends and I came across some things at his house that are for Mr. Cullen and we've been looking for him ever since. I don't believe he knows about his friend's passing." Bella said with a simple shrug and sigh. She noticed how he seemed shocked by her name and not the news before he looked up.

"How about you and I talk about this in the back since it is a private matter?" Richard said seriously making her smile ever so slightly.

"Of course, but don't you need to tend the bar?" She asked curiously.

"Nah, I'll have my assistant, Kent, deal with the bar. It's not that busy seeing it's so close to our opening time." Richard said before calling his assistant to man the bar. "Right this way Ms. Swan." Richard said and the two went down an employee's only hallway and up some steps. As Bella thought the upstairs was a small apartment rather than a storage area. "Now what's the real reason you have this?" Richard said tossing the crest back to Bella.

"Oh, I did get it because Vincent Lachlan is dead. I should know I'm the reason behind it." Bella said sitting down on the couch when Richard offered.

"I had heard rumors that someone was taking out vampire covens but I didn't think they were true." Richard said also sitting down across from her in an armchair. "Why are you looking for Edward Cullen?"

"I met him a few years ago and ever since it seems I can't go anywhere without being attacked by vampires left and right. I figure he knows something that I don't and I plan on finding out what it is. The problem is he fell of the grid before I could ask him anything." Bella said leaning back in her chair. "Some information I've come across has lead me here."

"I see, well I don't know where the Cullens are, but I do know about a coven that has moved here from the States. The Killingly Coven came from New England about half a year ago, they live up near Birmingham. I don't know specifically if they know anything but there's a rumor that Gregory Killingly, the leader of the coven, knows something about Carlisle Cullen." Richard said with a sigh.

"How can I trust your information is correct?" Bella asked even though she knew thanks to her senses. She was glad about one thing her heighten senses gave her; she had a built in lie detector that was far more accurate than any lie test ever made.

"I admit most humans know about vampires, they're pretty strict about their secrecy, but I'm not exactly human." Richard said looking her over for her reaction. She didn't even flinch, just looked slightly curious. "I got this scar back when I was a boy in a wolf attack." He said running one of his fingers along the scar.

"I thought the vampires killed all of the werewolves back in the 12th century." Bella said furrowing her brow in thought.

"They killed all the human ones." Richard said leaning back in his chair. "Some wolves mated with werewolves making a sort of hybrid, a wolf capable of infecting humans with lycanthropy. The Volturi were responsible for the so called extinction of the children of the moon, yes, but not long after a young boy was attacked by a wolf. He in turn infected a few more people, taking them underground away from humans. It took a few decades before werewolves found out about vampires and what had happened to the wolves in the past. We've been hidden from vampires ever since, occasionally one of us cross paths with a vampire but that usually leads to us winning a fight, otherwise vampires don't know we exist."

"I see." Bella said thinking of this new tidbit of information. She had come across many old stories of werewolves in the homes of covens she had already extinguished, but she had thought they had died out. Now though it seems they just got better at hiding. Putting that into perspective she decided to leave werewolves alone, they had done nothing to her and more than likely never would.

"And what about you Ms. Swan? What power do you have that allows you to take on vampires and win?" Richard asked wondering what edge this woman had that most humans did not.

"It's quite simple," Bella began letting her armor come forth and she slightly enjoyed his startled look, "I'm a mutant."

"I see." Richard said but smirked nonetheless. He wondered what this Edward Cullen did to piss off a mutant, one quite capable of attacking and killing vampires. He just hoped the bloodsucker knew what he was in for.

"So, do you know where near Birmingham can I find the Killingly Coven? I think I should pay them a visit." Bella said making Richard's smirk grow into a smile. He was beginning to really like this Bella Swan, especially if she was willing to take care of the vampire threat so he and others didn't have to.

"I can tell you, and I think I'll talk to the alphas I know about you. Who knows, perhaps we can see to it we are more permanent allies." Richard said as Bella's lips curled into an almost sadistic smirk.

"We'll see, but I don't really want to become furry. Having one time of the month is good enough for me thank you." Bella said getting a chuckle from Richard. If anything the brunette knew she would at least find a semi-ally in this werewolf, especially in her hunt for the Cullens.

"I have to ask though, why do you keep the crests of dead vampires?" Richard asked curiously.

"At first it was to keep track of how many and from which coven the vampires myself and my friends had killed. Now it's become a bit of a game I'm afraid, you could say a few of my friends aren't overly fond of vampires due to reasons of their own. I'm sure you understand." Bella said getting a nod.

"You've kept all the crests of every vampire you've killed?" Richard asked getting a nod from Bella.

"All ninety four of them." Bella confirmed with a shrug, then smiling at the impressed look in the werewolf's eyes. It wasn't long before Richard was telling Bella everything he knew about the Killingly Coven, he wanted the vampires gone and he had a feeling she was just the woman to accomplish that task. Bella found while Richard wasn't a wealth of information he did have at least all the basic facts. It was a start, Bella would need to track the coven down and observe them. Otherwise she found this trip and informant exceeding her expectations.

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YAY!! Still no real jump in the plot though, just more about what's been going on between the first story and this one. It's all mostly conversation. Anyway, I'm rather tired and I still have some stuff to do. So:

REVIEW!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Well I finished another chapter. I'm a little disappointed at the lack of reviews though, oh well that hasn't stopped me yet so I shall continue on. Uh, let's see, not much to say about this but I should be able to work on the next chapter either later today or early tomorrow, depends. Otherwise I will thank all those that have alerted or favorited this story, I would thank those that have reviewed but I already did that in chapter two.

**Disclaimer**: I do own the OCs and plotline, everything else belongs to people much richer than I am.

**ENJOY!!**

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As Bella stood in the elevator of her hotel on the way to her room, she thought back to what she had learned from Richard. The werewolf was alright, a business man through and through, but he also knew what he was talking about. She learned a lot about true werewolves in their little chat, everything from how they structured their society to how they managed to control their shifting. It surprised her that they mastered their lycanthropy so well they could actually shift on command, but looking back on it she shouldn't have been too surprised. Time breeds change after all, and it would only be a matter of time for werewolves to try and better their lives. Honestly, she wouldn't mind an alliance with the werewolves of London and possibly others around the globe. She knew they would at least be useful in terms of information, after all Richard knew of a werewolf in LA back in the States that knew a hell of a lot about S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA. Apparently he was experimented on back in the mid to late 18th century that helped expand his life expectancy. She really wanted to get a hold of him to see what he knew in terms of the terrorist organization after her and her friends. They may be gathering a lot of information but they still hadn't gotten the real important facts, such as who really ran the organization and which big wigs would they have to take out to destabilize the whole terrorist group.

Shaking her head Bella wondered if her father was rolling in his grave now. There she was contemplating killing people as if she was contemplating tomorrow's weather. To her defense the people she was thinking about killing were responsible for nearly half of the human experimentations going on in the world, nearly ninety percent of which involved mutants. Then again she wasn't contemplating their deaths for mutants as a whole, she was just so very sick of the organization that she wanted it eliminated. Running a hand through her hair with a sigh she wondered really when she became so inclined to violence. She knew it wasn't something that suddenly appeared with her mutation, it was something that had built up over time, probably ever since Edward left.

"Well, so much for being a vegetarian pacifist." She said to herself with a wry grin. She hadn't been a vegetarian since her mutation came forth. She had tried it but she found out quickly she needed protein to help maintain her armor, and protein supplements and protein rich vegetables just didn't cut it. It took a few weeks to get used to eating meat again, since she honestly didn't remember what it tasted like before, but eventually she had come to love a good steak when she could get one.

Out of habit she sniffed the air as she made her way towards her room. She had gotten into the habit of doing this a few years back when she realized that gunpowder had a distinct and rather nose tingling scent. Of course once the operatives after her learned she could smell gunpowder they tried other things, but she quickly was able to isolate and categorize all the new scents of every weapon they tried against her. Luckily this time she didn't smell any threats, just the thick aroma of Chinese food and humans.

Going to her hotel room she automatically knocked out a code on the door before entering. It had become rather habitual now since she gave Grant the go ahead to be ready to attack should he not know who was at the door. More than once, Grant ended up having to save himself because she was out when a vampire or HYDRA came after them. Anyway Bella entered to find Conrad, Amanda, and Grant sitting around the lounge area with boxes of Chinese takeout around them.

"Mère, you're back! What did your contact say?" Grant asked happy to see Bella was alright.

"Hello to you too, hey Conrad how have you been?" Bella asked ignoring Grant's question for now.

"Good, we've managed to make a few breakthroughs in our research. A colleague of mine from China has found a few potential sources in plants that may help further our research. He thinks that the solution may lie in tea plants or other antioxidant rich plants." Conrad said with a grin. "I'm thinking about buying a few _Camellia sinensis_ myself and studying them more closely."

"Oncle what exactly is a Camellia sense thing anyway?" Grant asked with a frown.

"_Camellia sinensis _otherwise known as a simple tea plant, it's the plant where most people get tea from, especially green tea, black tea, oolong, white tea, and pu-erh tea. It has quite a high antioxidant level to it and it is considered very beneficial to the body." Conrad explained getting a nod from Grant.

"So what will you do with your tea plants oncle?" Grant asked curious about how tea would help Conrad's research. The boy always got to help out Conrad in his lab when they were in Seattle and he had become rather fascinated with what his adopted uncle was doing.

"Well if I could isolate and increase the antioxidant levels of the tea plants and grow a hybrid plant, it could help increase the effectiveness it has on the body. You see research has already shown that tea as it is right now can drastically reduce the likelihood of some cancers. It has shown to help detoxify the body of chemicals and metals that people tend to come in contact with in this day and age. Thanks to our consumer nature nowadays we come in contact with a lot more things than our ancestors did that can be rather harmful to our bodies. That is why fossil records show that cancer, though present in a few minorities, had not started to increase until the industrial age. Not only were people more inclined to go out into the sun they were in more contact with things like mercury, iron, oil, carbon dioxide, and other harmful things do to our industries. Also the widely accepted use of cars has increased the pollutants causing the likelihood of cancer to increase as well. But if there was a way to increase the chances of cleaning the body of unwanted waste products that build up over time, it would affect the way most people live. It would increase energy levels, mental capabilities, and immune systems. Not only would it be helpful to prevent cancer it would be helpful to society since more people will have the energy and capabilities to do things. The trick would be if by helping increase the detoxification of tea, could it possibly reverse cancer all together. If it could what state would the human body be in when the cancer receded into remission. As it stand though chemotherapy has done wonders for curing cancer it still leaves the immune system weakened and has little to no benefits for the human body's recovery after the cancer has gone away. Sure most people can live happy and full lives but they still will have to battle the effects chemo has on their bodies, then there is still the chance that the cancer can return. Also there are a number of cases that place chemotherapy as the cause for sterilization. Which means children undergoing chemo could end up not reproducing." Conrad said with a shrug.

"But isn't that somewhat of a good thing? I mean perhaps cancer is Mother Nature's way of make sure we don't over populate the earth." Grant asked with a frown.

"True, but keep in mind, that even though humans have dominated this planet we still are at its whims. Not to mention our own faults have lead us to being our own worst enemies. There will always be disease and natural disasters but by curing say cancer it will mean more young minds will work to find a way to better the world." Conrad said with a shrug. "I'm not saying it's a perfect solution but in the long run humanity can either cause itself to go extinct or the earth. I have hope and faith that most will do their best not to let that happen before it's too late."

"Well at least one of us can be optimistic about it." Bella said as she ate some of the food she grabbed during Conrad's lecture.

"Oncle, why haven't you asked tante to help you with your research?" Grant asked having wanted to ask that question ever since he met the man.

"It's because I love your tante too much to have her locked up a lab to be experimented on for the better of humanity. Besides, this is my dream and I want to see it through on my terms, not on my beloved's mutation." Conrad answered easily with a shrug making Amanda smile.

"I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you." Amanda said happy to hear her husband's thoughts on the matter. She as well always wondered why he didn't just ask her to help using her mutation, now it made sense.

"What about that?" Bella asked looking up from her food.

"What about what?" Conrad asked with a confused look on his face.

"Well, you're the geneticist; could it be possible that you could find an X-gene in tea plants? If you bred the plants with others that contain the gene or allele or whatever, could you eventually end up with a mutant tea plant? Is it possible for such a plant to have a better production of chemicals to help increase the effects you are looking for in your experiment? Rather than just breeding plants together in hopes you come across the one genetic family that can get you the results?" Bella asked making the three look at her in surprise. "What? I listen and can comprehend most of what you prattle on about. Just because I'm a fiction author doesn't mean I don't have a brain."

"No, it's not that, it's just you're a genius!" Conrad said giving Bella a hug much to her chagrin and the other two's amusement. "What made you think of that?"

"Well you said it before in your research of some of the mutants you've managed to test genetically. A high percentage of the time mutants of the same linage have the same or very similar mutations. It could be that the X-gene is affected by the genetic make-up of the other DNA sequences in the person. It would certainly explain why I have similar powers to Victor Creed and Logan. They both have extremely effective super healing and more feral tendencies and appearances. There is also fact that all three of us have heightened senses. So if you take that knowledge and apply it to your tea plants it could produce a new species of tea plants that have a mutation that increased the productive ability of the detoxifying chemicals or whatever they have." Bella explained calmly before taking a bite of her teriyaki chicken.

"I never thought about that before, it does fit actually on some level. If there was a way I could predict the mutation enough to get the end result, I could in theory grow a mutant generation that meets my end criteria." Conrad said thoughtfully pulling out a small memo pad and began writing down things and muttering to himself under his breath.

"Okay, so how are Grant's ribs?" Bella said slowly at first before turning to Amanda who was smiling at her husband.

"They are relatively healed like I said they'd be. They are definitely frail though so he will have to keep them wrapped and not do anything too strenuous." Amanda said before taking a drink of her tea.

"You said something about him maybe needing some calcium supplements?" Bella asked while Grant looked over his uncle's shoulder to see what he was working on.

"Yes, I suggest just going down and getting a bottle of children's vitamins. It doesn't need to be a big bottle. He should refrain from doing any activities that could injure them for the next two weeks and take the vitamins twice a day." Amanda said getting a thoughtful look from Bella before she nodded.

"Very well, that should give us enough time to plan." Bella said getting a raised eyebrow from Amanda.

"Plan what?" The older woman asked curiously.

"The contact I got from Mad turned out to be legitimate. He had information that could lead me to the Cullens so I'm going to look into it. However that information pertains to a vampire coven near Birmingham. I don't really like bringing Grant on hunts with me but I think I'll need back up on this one. The Killingly Coven is twelve vampires strong, quite a large number compared to most covens. Luckily only four of the twelve have added powers and they are the four oldest. I can easily take them down thanks to my mental shield seeing as they have telepathic like abilities. The problem I will have is two are said to still be newborns." Bella said getting a nod from Amanda.

"Newborns can move just as fast and are just a bit stronger than you are, I see. Do you plan on using Grant to help you with the newborns?" Amanda asked with a frown.

"In a way, I want him to trap them and myself in a force field. He has been practicing, and not only can his force field now keep things out, it can keep things in as well. It will allow me a better chance of killing them if they don't have a large area to move in. But before I make a concrete plan I want to observe them more. I don't want to put him in any danger I can't get us out of." Bella said getting a nod from Amanda.

"We will be here for another week and a half; before we leave I'll check his ribs again. If you're going to go up against newborns I want to make sure if he gets banged up a little he won't re-break his ribs." Amanda said with a calm air to her.

"Thank you Andy, it would definitely put my mind at ease if I do have to take him along." Bella said getting a nod.

"But mère, I'll be safe anyway." Grant said having listened to the two women's conversation.

"I know but you know I always plan for the worse and hope for the best." Bella said with a smile when he rolled his eyes. The rest of the evening was filled with more talk and a few laughs.

The next few days were rather busy for Bella. She continued to tutor Grant in his school studies, went to Birmingham a few times to observe the coven, and the two mutants went out to have fun in London. It wasn't long before Amanda gave Grant her stamp of approval saying that his ribs had healed efficiently enough that he could help Bella. Grant was excited but Bella turned a bit more serious knowing now she would have to watch out for her son on this hunt. She had confirmed that two of the vampires were newborns, but they had been turned roughly half a year ago. It still made the two dangerous but it gave Bella just a bit more of an edge. It wasn't long however that the two were ready to attack.

Their attack happened swiftly. Bella easily took out the newborns once they were isolated. Grant for the most part staid out of the way, using his force fields to keep the vampires from getting at him. A few tried but none could get passed the nearly invisible films of energy. With Grant using his other ability to manipulate kinetic energy, the vampires were soon reduced to nothing but ash. The only one left standing and stuck in one of Grant's force fields was the coven leader, Gregory Killingly.

"You must be Bella Swan." Gregory said glancing at the young boy near the door. He was surprised slightly to see the boy's eyes; they looked like they belonged to a demon. "Who is your devil boy?"

"My adopted son." Bella answered with a shrug. "Do you know why I hunted you down?"

"No but I would like to know. I would also like to know why you felt the need to kill the others of my family. We would have not harmed you if you had sent a message of your arrival." Gregory said knowing orders were to capture the woman alive. The first few months of hunting her, orders were to kill her but as she continued to live and vampire numbers started to decrease dramatically orders were changed. She was a curious puzzle to those in the vampire society, one they wanted to figure out for their safety.

"Perhaps, but I don't like taking chances where my health is concerned, especially around creatures that have been known to kill humans." Bella said resting her hands on her hips. "The reason I dropped in was because I heard you might know a bit about the Cullens. You see I've been looking for them but they've seemed to all have vanished."

"I would vanish to if I knew I had you on my trail. What business do you have with the Cullens?" Gregory asked with a frown.

"It's rather personal I'm afraid, otherwise I would tell you." Bella answered calmly. "Do you know where they are?"

"No, I haven't seen Carlisle Cullen for nearly three decades now. He and I used to be friends at one point but I'm afraid our differences in diets put a bit of a strain on our relationship. I do know they have a few homes around the United States though. They also own a private island off the coast of Brazil that they may have camped up in. It's hard to say really. I do know though that the Cullens have been looking for you. They've made inquiries to other covens around the world but more than a few of their inquiries were unanswered due to those covens suddenly vanishing. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" Gregory asked narrowing his eyes at the woman before him. He wondered what the Cullens wanted with this woman, though she did look somewhat like a vegetarian vampire with her golden eyes.

"I can't say I do, unless those are the covens that have attacked me in the past." Bella said looking thoughtful. "Do you know what they would do if their inquiries were answered?"

"I can't say for sure but perhaps try and rendezvous with you at some point. They seem rather concerned for your safety though, I can assure you." Gregory said getting a snort from Bella. She wondered if the Cullens were concerned for her safety or were just trying to find her to tie up loose ends. Information about them were scarce and far between in the past years but one thing was certain, they had an agenda.

"Well I thank you for your information." Bella said with a nod.

"Will you let me go then?" Gregory asked but already getting ready for a fight. He had a feeling he would have to get out of this one using force rather than his ability of persuasion. He had already seen his mate, who was gifted with the ability to make people feel sympathy towards her, die rather easily. He was certain she had a way of blocking out mental powers so his own ability to persuade others to his opinion would not work.

"No, you see I've grown rather displeased with vampires you could say. My philosophy nowadays is that a dead vampire is a good vampire." She said as she drew out her claws once more. She smirked at his stunned look before he lunged. She just raised her arm and watched as he tried to bite into her flesh. She didn't feel a thing as his razor sharp teeth suddenly shattered like glass on her arm. "You should have simply tried to run when you had the chance." She said before she moved. The last thing Gregory Killingly saw before he died was a flash of golden silver.

"So mère, what are we going to do now?" Grant asked looking up at Bella curiously.

"Well, first we are going back to the hotel and getting some rest; it is way past your bedtime young man. Then we'll see what we will do tomorrow when it gets here. We should have another few weeks before HYDRA is back on our tail, by then we should have a relatively good plan of escape." Bella said as the two walked towards the exit of the mansion.

"Why do we always run from them though?" Grant asked and Bella sighed.

"It's because we can only focus on one thing at a time. While we may be gathering information about HYDRA it is not a very immediate threat. First we deal with the vampires who will no doubt try to kill us any chance they get, and then we'll worry about those scientists that are trying to capture us for their experiments. Who knows, if we're lucky they will find something more worth their wild to chase if they are chasing us. They've already lost a lot during the many attacks they've tried on us before, they should be worrying about their resources now." Bella said getting a nod from Grant.

"Mère, what are you going to do when we find the Cullens?" Grant asked and Bella thought about it.

"Honestly, I'll give Edward a piece of my mind before killing him. The others, I don't know yet. Perhaps I'll let their fates be in the hands of our friends, how does that sound?" Bella asked getting a smile from Grant.

"I think it sounds great. They need to pay for the trouble they've caused you." Grant said and Bella raised an eyebrow.

"Grant honey, a wise man once told me that revenge isn't a straight path, it's a forest. I am not doing this for revenge; I am doing this for answers. If I have to eliminate a few threats along the way then so be it. First and foremost I care about the safety of you and the others." Bella said getting a nod from Grant before he looked at Bella.

"Who told you that anyway?" Grant asked with a frown.

"My uncle Harry, I think he got the quote from a movie." Bella said with a snort. "He was always like that, he even once told me not to worry because his Kung Fu was strong. Trust the man to try to make light of situations when they are dire."

"What happen to him?" Grant asked with a frown.

"He died of a heart attack five years ago. He's Aunt Sue's late husband." Bella said and Grant looked down at the ground with a frown.

"I wish I could have met him." Grant said with a smile.

"I wish you could have too." Bella said knowing Harry would have loved the young Cajun just as much as Sue did. She also knew she could turn to Harry for parental advice when it comes to teaching children morals. She was tempted to call up her mom to figure out how she would curve Grant's growing acceptance of violence as an answer. Deciding she could debate that topic another time she turned to Grant with a smile. "What you say we get some ice cream before bed huh?"

"Oui!" Grant exclaimed with a happy smile. If anyone asked he would say he truly did love his adopted mother, sometimes he loved her more than his birth mother. She was just that cool and didn't care if other people knew he was a mutant just so long as he remained safe.

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YAY!! I know not much action but I'm not that good at writing fight scenes. So I'll let you use your own imagination to come up with how Bella took down all the vampires. We also learn more about Grant's power in this one and Amanda's as well. Um, yea, I know it seems to be going slow but things will pick up here shortly. Well until next time:

REVIEW!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Geez, sorry I got off schedule but life is life I suppose. I also noticed while I was writing this that I had a bit of a glitch in my outline that I had to adress. It would have been difficult to fix had I gotten to that part and only noticed it halfway through writing the chapters. Anyway, I got more reviews! Yay! I would like to thank all those that have favorited, alerted, and/or reviewed this story. Makes me happy to know other people like this. Don't know how quickly I'll get the next chapter up but it will be coming shortly, probably less than a week if life allows it to be.

**Disclaimer**: Bah, what do I say that I haven't already? Y'all know I don't own anything but the OCs and plotline, so I'll just leave it at that.

**ENJOY!!**

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Yawning Bella held Grant's hand as they got off the plane and into JFK International Airport. Bella despised flying and would have much rather taken the Queen Mary 2, but they had been in a bit of a hurry. Apparently Dr. G had improved on her abilities of infiltration, the doctor's operatives had nearly taken the two mutant's by surprised. Had it not been for Bella's paranoia they probably would have been running all over the UK by now instead of showing up in NYC. After nearly a year and a half of being on foreign soil almost constantly, Bella could say she was extremely happy to be back in the States. She admitted that foreign countries all had fine food, fine people, and fine cultures but nothing could compare to the hodgepodge that made up the USA in her opinion.

It was rather easy to get through the airport. They didn't attract much attention since she was dressed in a simple white dress shirt and black pencil skirt with her hair in a manageable bun. She not only wore her fake teeth and her contacts, but a pair of wire framed square glasses that had nonprescription glass lenses. Next to her Grant had his sunglasses on, wearing a simple white t-shirt and some jeans, but he also carried a blind cane. By now Grant was used to acting like a blind child and actually had a lot of fun with it.

As they made it through the airport Bella noticed some men walking towards them. She simply picked up her luggage like she hadn't seen them and ushered Grant along. She could tell they were still following her so she took the nearest shuttle to the parking lot. She knew they were after her and she had a good idea as to why. It wasn't a secret to her or her friends that S.H.I.E.L.D. always tried to capture them when they entered the US. Bella thought it was because it was one of the few times they were out in the open. All the other times Bella and her friends made sure they flew so far under the radar that not even Dr. G could keep track of them sometimes.

Getting to the parking lot Bella quickly ushered Grant down to the subway. By now Bella was so used to keeping precise schedules of public transport, that she probably could tell when a bus was going to be five minutes late without even trying. So with that in mind she took evasive actions to lose her current stalkers. The two mutants went practically everywhere around NYC and then some.

In the end the two were getting out of a taxi in front of a small hotel. Bella paid for the fair easily and the two went in to check in. Bella had thought in advanced to make reservations at the hotel so she quickly got them both settled. "You know what mère? That never gets old." Grant said with a grin.

"I'm sure it doesn't, although I think I've seen the Empire State building enough times now. I probably could navigate it with my eyes closed." Bella said flopping down on her bed and kicking off her stylish peep-toe flats.

"You could probably do that anyway mère, what with your senses." Grant said with a grin getting a snort from Bella. "So what are we going to do now?"

"We have to lay low for a while and I have to call Mad again." Bella said getting a nod from Grant who went over and climbed onto the bed with his adopted mother to cuddle next to her. "You know there are some days I wonder if this is all worth it."

"What is?" Grant asked as Bella wrapped an arm around him.

"The running around to dodge high profile organizations, hiding from underground anti-mutant extremist groups, looking for a well-hidden family of supernatural creatures that hardly anyone knows exists, all of it." Bella said with a wave of her free hand. "I wonder sometimes what my life would be like if I had never become a mutant or met Edward Cullen for that matter."

"Well if you never became a mutant you would probably have ended up taking Edward back like in your book New Moon. We wouldn't have met and you wouldn't be my mère like you are now. You probably would have never met Tante Mad and lived a quite life. If you never met Edward none of this probably would have ever happened and you probably would have married your old friend Jacob. You know oncle Billy's son, I heard he really liked you and still does." Grant said resting his head on Bella's shoulder. "You probably would have become a stay at home mom cooking up a storm like Tante Sue does and would have never become a world famous author, even if you use a penname."

"True, but is it all worth it?" Bella asked turning to look her son in the eyes since he had taken off his sunglasses when he kicked off his tennis shoes.

"I think it's worth it. Without you being my mère, I would probably still be locked in that apartment. My real mère would still be mean to me because I'm different. Then I probably would have ended up on some examination table of some scientist when mère ran out of money for her drugs. If not that I would probably be whored out to get money for the drugs mère loved more than me." Grant said with a frown knowing his life would have been hell had Bella not come along and saved him that day. He did love his birth mother but he had never been good enough for her, since his eyes had been different. He didn't look human so she never treated him like he was. "You let me see the world. You gave me a reason to live, and sure it's not always sunshine and rainbows but we have fun. You teach me everything you know and try to be a good role model; you treat me like I'm human. If nothing else I think that's a good enough reason for all of this. Think of Tante Mad, you were her only true friend by the time you both graduated. She could count on you to keep her secrets and not judge her for anything she did. You didn't approve sometimes but you still didn't hold any of it against her. Then look at Oncle Dolph, he spent years locked in a brothel because of his mutation. His mother locked him in the basement and only saw him when she went down to give him something to eat. You saved him too, let him see the world as well and you taught him how to be human again. Oncle Dante as well, you helped him by giving him a family he always wanted. You never judged him either and at first he wasn't trusted but now you practically give him free reign so long as he is safe. The same thing with Oncle Hiro, you gave him back the ability to be something other than a human weapon. You've done a lot of good mère, sure it's not an earth shattering world changing good but does it have to be to make it good?" Grant asked making Bella smile slightly.

"No, just I wish sometimes the good was more obvious than the bad." Bella said making Grant grin and snuggle against his mother. He was honest with what he had said, without her none of them would be what they were today. Sure she may not be the model citizen or superhero, but she was enough and that to Grant was all that mattered.

As Bella felt Grant's breaths even out and heard his heartbeat slow into an even beat, she thought of what he said. Smiling to herself she mentally shook her head, she had been so worried lately that she wasn't raising Grant right. However, it seemed she was. He wouldn't probably ever end up being a model citizen but he would at least have some semblance of right and wrong. Deciding she would worry about the world tomorrow she drifted off.

The next morning Bella was muttering curses as she worked out the large knot her hair had become. She should know not to fall asleep with her hair in anything but a braid, but she never did let that sink in too deep it seemed. She had woken up around five that morning for no particular reason so she decided to take an early shower. When she had tried to take down her hair it ended up in such a tangle that she was just about a second away from using her claws to cut it all off. She didn't care that it always seemed to grow back to at least waist length by morning, it was annoying her. Eventually she managed to untangle her hair and take her shower without incident.

An hour later found her working on her laptop. She was working on the sequel to Shadow Hunters. The first book she had written after the Twilight series had gotten great reviews. All her fans loved the book even if it deviated from her vampire theme of her last one. Her publisher had wanted her to continue the saga of Annabelle Phoenix and her vampire lover Edmund but Bella hadn't wanted to get stuck on it. She had taken some advice from Madison on that front, she didn't want to over analyze a good thing. She liked that there was some room for creative improvement with the book, since she loved to go on line and read the stories her fans made up about it. In fact some of the really good ones she asked the authors to post on her website for the series. She openly announced that while she loved her first series, even she thought the characters and plot needed more to it.

In fact half a year after the last book was finished, Bella had a contest to see which of her fans could make the best fan written story that was a continuation of the books. They had hundreds of entries by the time the submission deadline was reached; after that it took a team of editors nearly a month to find the ten most well written stories of the lot. From there the ten stories were posted on her website and her fans got to vote which one they liked the best. The winner got their story published as a short story for the series and the two runners up also got a cash award. Though, Bella had read all of the entries and picked her favorite of them all, it was written by a young ten year old in Kyoto Japan. It didn't make the top ten because of all the grammar errors and a few plot holes, but what it lacked in technical difficulty it made up for in imagination. Bella saw to it that the author's choice also got a small cash award and was put on her website for just as long as the other ten had been.

Her publisher still thought she was crazy after that idea but Bella loved the woman. In fact there had been a noticeable increase in author submissions because of that incident. Many younger authors that normally wouldn't have tried to publish their works had begun to work on publishing. Bella got an award for her encouragement of young authors. One teacher she talked to in England told her that he had seen a greater increase in his students' willingness to write and read after the whole contest. Her publisher still thought that that was her goal in the first place; she didn't believe Bella had done it because the brunette just got bored of writing about Annabelle after the third book.

Bella turned her thoughts back to her publisher for a few moments. Camilla Grant was a wonderful woman, a bit of a stickler for deadlines and such, but knew talent when she saw it. She had given Bella free reign over her deadlines because of how much Bella liked to travel. Bella thought it probably helped that Camilla thought of her as her multi-million dollar ticket. Though the older woman was kind hearted and strict, she still was a businesswoman at heart and never lost sight that she was running a business. Bella did most of her author related things through Camilla because the mutant knew she could trust the woman. It had taken Bella a long time to find a good publisher and after finding the small family run publishing company, Bella had known she had found the one. Bella had gotten many offers from other publishing companies but aside from some of the books that were translated into different languages, Bella had stuck with Camilla's company. There was just a sort of family oriented down to earth feel about the company that put Bella at ease, it also helped that Camilla included her on everything the company did pertaining to Bella's works. Camilla also arranged the book signings and other things that Bella did simply because Bella didn't want to be bothered by them.

Thinking about it Bella knew she had to call Camilla soon to tell her that she was back in the states. She had taken two months off of the whole being an author thing to relax and rejuvenate after her last major hit. She had also managed to write most of the sequel to her last book in that time. She figure she would be done with the book in a few weeks, at least having written it out enough that she could start her editing process. It was by no means anywhere near complete.

Suddenly a little light bulb in her head clicked on and Bella slapped her head. She had forgotten to call Madison when they got to their hotel. Deciding her book could wait a few minutes she grabbed her cell phone and dialed Madison. "Yo, Mad speaking, how may I help you?" Madison asked once the other line was picked up.

"Hey Mad, me again." Bella said leaning back in her chair at the small table the hotel provided.

"Bell! Good to hear from you, how's things?"

"They're good; Grant and I managed to hop over the ocean well enough. We're at a small corner of New York called Bayville. Looking around it seems nice enough, more of a touristy place and down home suburbia than a city. We had to outwit some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at JFK International though." Bella said with a sigh. "I think our safety net in England is blown, we nearly didn't manage to skip country this time. Otherwise not much I can tell you."

"Really? That's a bit boring don't you think? Anyway, not much here has been going on either. My mutant stalker has been laying low for a while so mostly things are pretty quiet. Hiro's looking in to a few things but otherwise we've just been enjoying some down time. I got a call from Dante; he's coming up from the south to the states. I think I'll call him back to send him your way."

"I wouldn't mind, it'd be great to have another set of eyes watching my back. Grant's great and all but there's only so much the kid can do." Bella said with a smile as she looked over to the sleeping Grant. "I got a lead on my way here that there's a bit of mutant activity in Bayville. I'm thinking of setting up shop here. If what they say is true we can fly under the radar using the other mutants as a distraction. From what I gather they've got two or three teams fighting it out around here. All that activity also makes a good smoke screen for us to hide under."

"Yea, I heard some things about Bayville over here too. I'll look into it but if I remember right it's the home of one hell of a telepath named Charles Xavier. We can check in with Felix, he's pretty much running his own database on the heavy hitters these days. I don't know what we'd do without him."

"You can say that again, I'm just glad he won't sell any of us out. I heard he got a few offers from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents a few weeks ago because of his skill in the computer world." Bella said with a frown.

"No worries Bell, Felix wouldn't go traitor on us cause that would mean betraying Conrad and Andy. That guy would probably marry those two if he could, he loves them so much."

"I did not need those images in my head Mad." Bella said with a sigh.

"Well tough for you, so otherwise nothing happening?"

"Nothing's happening; I'm going to call my publisher soon to tell her where I am and that I'll do a few more book signings. Maybe I'll even do another one of those speeches for the schools she likes to send me to." Bella said thoughtfully.

"You should, you're like on the forefront of the author world these days. I mean come on, how many bestselling authors take time out of their schedules to go speak to kids about expressing their creativity? You're like the poster child for English teachers everywhere."

"Yay for me, I'm three steps away from having large posters made of my visage with quotes of if you can dream it and write it you can publish it." Bella said dryly making Madison snicker.

"For real though Bell, you got something good going on there. The more the public sees Susan Meadows the more they want to buy your book. That's the thing; a lot of authors nowadays will simply remain in the background unless they get a movie deal. You were addressing your readers, way before that movie deal came out, and even then you were a major part of the movie making process. It didn't matter that your first box office smash hit cost practically as much as a B-rated movie. Though I got to admit you were quite creative in that to."

"Yea well with only so much money we had to be creative, besides Star Wars was amazing and they didn't have a hell of a lot of money the first time around. I think the second one was more visual art than CG animation." Bella said as she thought back to the movies that were made based off her books. "Besides if you have forgotten I had called you numerous times for advice, I may be an author but I'm not an artist like you are."

"Now you're just trying to flatter me, I admit I love you Bell but only as a sister."

"Bah, you never change. Go be a fortune cookie to your stalker; I'm sure he'd enjoy it." Bella shot back with a smirk.

"Oh I know he would but why go willingly if he already knows I'm hard to get."

"No you're rather easy to get, you're just hard to hold on to. I bet you've already slipped through his fingers more than once." Bella said thinking of her friend's mutation.

"You can say that again but I'd rather enjoy slipping through people's fingers."

"Whatever, just don't get caught in a water bottle or something. I sort of need you still moving around and not canned." Bella said as she noticed Grant was finally waking up.

"Mère, who are you talking to?" Grant asked with a yawn.

"Mad." Bella responded.

"Of course I won't be canned, so what's up?"

"Grant just woke up, want to talk to him?" Bella asked while Grant looked up hopefully.

"Sure, I haven't said hi to the little man in a few weeks at least."

Bella snorted and stood up going over to her adopted son. "Here you go kiddo, I'm going to go get a newspaper while you talk to Mad, then we'll see about breakfast."

"Okay mère." Grant said taking the phone from Bella. "Tante Mad, how are you?"

Bella grinned before turning around and heading out of the hotel room and down to the lobby. The hotel had a complimentary breakfast and free newspapers. So Bella scoped out the breakfast area before grabbing a paper on her way back to her hotel room. Seeing as she booked a smoking room she pulled out her cigarettes as she entered the room. Grant was still on the phone with Madison so Bella sat down, lit a cigarette, and opened the paper to the classifieds. If they were going to set up shop in Bayville they were going to need a house to stay at.

By the end of the day both mutants were standing in front of their newly bought three story town house. The building needed some work but it was cheap and livable, it was also rather isolated from the rest of the town. Bella liked it because it was on at least an acre of land, hence why it was so isolated, and surrounded by overgrowth and trees. Grant liked it because if it was isolated like it was then he could work on his mutant powers freely.

"Well it needs a bit of a paint job and some structure work but I'm sure we'll have it in perfect shape in no time." Bella said getting a nod from Grant.

"When do we start?" Grant asked looking up at Bella.

"Tomorrow, first let's get some rest. We'll see about all the details then." Bella said with a yawn. It had been a long day of looking at houses, something Bella didn't really care for, and all she wanted to do was get some much needed sleep and relax. Looking down at Grant she noticed even he was a bit tired if the large yawn was any indication. "We'll move in when the repairs are done, for now let's get back to the hotel."

"Okay mère." Grant said as the two made it back to the waiting taxi.

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YAY!! They're in Bayville and they're going to be setting up shop there. So yea, we will be seeing appearances by the other mutants soon and not just in mention. Also we'll be learning more about Bella's friends in the next few chapters rather than just hearing about them over the phone. Can't say how long it will take for them to run into the Cullens though, but we'll get there when we get there. Until then hope you still enjoy this story and be so kind as to:

REVIEW!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Right, it took a bit longer than I expected to get this done. I did have some freetime yesterday but it wasn't enough to finish editing so I have to post today. Anyway, I would like to thank all of those that have favorited, alerted, and/or reviewed this story. The next chapter is a bit longer than this one so it will take a while for me to get it done.

**Disclaimer**: I'm really too tired to write one of these so I'm just going with I own the OCs and plot everything else belongs to other people.

**ENJOY!!**

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After all the repairs and upgrades were finished, Bella and Grant moved directly into their house. It took Bella a week to furnish the place. Aside from that both mutants found life in Bayville to be rather calm and pleasant. Bella still home schooled Grant, she worked on her book, and Grant continued his training. Life for the past month was good, which was why both mutants found it utterly boring. They both had gotten so used to action packed adventures that downtime felt like eons of boredom. Somehow that translated into Bella making a Go-kart circuit, a paint ball field, a water park, and a shooting range in the back yard of their home. It also meant Bella had time to trick out the inside as well, simply because she was bored and she had the money.

So when one calm morning as Grant was trying not to fall asleep in his Coco Puffs and Bella was reading the morning newspaper, the doorbell breaking the silence made both mutants pause and look at each other curiously. "I'll get it, you finish your breakfast." Bella said putting down her newspaper while Grant yawned in response.

The brunette made it to the door easily enough and upon opening it had to blink twice before what her eyes were registering clicked into her brain. Standing on the front step was a man about two heads taller than Bella with a strong build. He had tan skin, short black hair, and warm brown eyes. He was dressed in a white t-shirt, some loose Levi jeans, work boots, a simple brown leather jacket, and sitting on his head was a cowboy hat. The rather handsome young man grinned at her as she took a few minutes to register not only the midnight blue Harley in the driveway but his duffle bag. Once it all clicked in Bella's mind the man was already chuckling silently at her expense. "It's good to see you too Senorita."

"Dante!" Bella exclaimed leaping up and wrapping her arms around his neck. For his part Dante Bolivar was a bit shocked but easily steadied his friend on her feet. "God! Mad said you'd be on your way here but I didn't think it'd take this long for you to make it."

"Si, I didn't think so either Senorita, but I had to take a detour through Florida. Your mother sends her love by the way." Dante said as Bella let go of him.

"Well come in, my place is your place after all." Bella said ushering her friend into the house. She was glad to see he was in one piece, and aside from looking a bit tired seemed to be in perfect health. The Argentinean seemed relieved to be there though so she hoped he didn't bring bad news with him.

"Of course Senorita, I love what you've done with the place. I noticed a few things as I was pulling in." Dante said with a smile relieved to finally be at his destination.

"So how was your trip?" Bella asked as she guided him up towards where his room would be.

"It went as well as expected. I have some information that you probably will want to hear." Dante said but yawned as well.

"Don't worry about it for now, just get settled in and we'll talk later. I'll tell Grant you're here so expect to be drilled with questions when he finally corners you." Bella said with a smile and a roll of her eyes.

"I will keep that in mind senorita. We'll talk in a few hours but it's been a long journey, and I think all I want to do is sleep at this point." Dante said getting a nod from Bella.

"That's fine, just seeing you've made it here safely is enough for me. When you're ready we'll talk." Bella said getting a grateful smile and nod from the twenty four year old. "Well here's your room, Grant's is down the hall last door on your left while I'm right across the hall from him. The bathroom is that door over there and I'll be down stairs if you need me." Bella said indicating where everything was.

"Gracias senorita, it's good to be home." Dante said before disappearing into his room making her smile and roll her eyes.

As she walked down the stairs she thought back to when she first met the Argentinean man. It had been nearly a month after Madison, Bella, and Grant left Renee's for South America. Grant and Madison where snooping around some of the tourist places, while Bella led some of HYDRA's operatives off of their trail and into the rural area of Argentina. On her way back to meet up with her adopted son and sister, the brunette had come across a small coven of vampires. She had debated a few minutes whether or not to go see what they were up to when she heard the screams. She had quickly left to see what was happening when she realized the vampires had gone to a nearby cattle farm. She then started to take out the vampires one by one, but for most it was too late. Rather than let some of them suffer through the transformation she had killed a few people already infected with the vampire venom, as well as the vampires themselves. There were only four survivors of the incident; Dante was one of them as was his employer's grandson, the grandson's wife, and their newborn child. Dante had managed to hold off the vampires until Bella showed up to exterminate them; however the grandson had thought both Dante and her to be demons because of their powers. Dante had to leave so he went with Bella and soon was integrated into their group. He learned that the creatures responsible for the massacre were vampires and had nearly begged Madison and Bella to let him help in their hunt of them. The two young women had then learned that Dante was an orphan that the ranch owner took pity on and let work around the ranch for food and shelter. The young man had felt like he owed the rancher some revenge from the creatures that had killed him. Ever since, Dante had become one the brothers Madison and Bella never had.

"Mère, who was at the door?" Grant asked curiously as Bella entered the kitchen.

"Dante just showed up. Be nice and let him get some rest, he looks like he needs it. He'll be down when he's ready to tell us all about his adventures in South America." Bella said getting a nod from a now more awake Grant.

"Of course mère, I will. Can we work on my school work now so when he does come down I won't have to worry about it?" Grant asked making Bella look at her forgotten paper thoughtfully before turning to Grant.

"First put away the mess you made for breakfast and get out of your pajamas. Then we'll get to your school work." Bella said with a smile.

"Right away mère." Grant said picking up his dirtied bowl and putting it in the sink.

Dante came down just as Bella finished Grant's lessons for the day. Grant was working hard on some of the extra research she assigned and Bella was making lunch. Dante yawned as he ran a hand through his short spiky hair, since he left his hat in his room. Flopping down at the kitchen table he smiled when Grant looked up from his work. "Hola chico, how are you?"

"Great oncle Dante how was your trip here?" Grant asked looking at his mother for a second before putting the research paper he had been working on aside. The young Cajun figured his research about the prison camps of World War Two could wait for an hour or so. Bella did say he had two weeks to complete it before she would grade it.

"It was eventful. I stopped in Florida to see your Abuela for a few days. She was asking all about you, senorita Bella, and the rest of us." Dante said with a grin. "I also had to take a detour through your hometown of New Orleans. I ran into a guild of thieves though, they tried to steal some things from me but I gave them the slip. From there I went up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and then started on my way here. Not much happened in between that time so I got to enjoy what the country had to offer."

"That's cool; did you ride your bike through the country?" Grant asked curiously knowing every one of Bella's friends that were old enough had their own Harleys; a few of them had more than one. Really, when they all got together Grant figured his family could be considered a biker gang rather than a mutant one.

"Si, I was going to take my Mustang but figured my bike would make for an easier get away if I got into some trouble." Dante said stretching a bit.

"So how was South America?" Bella asked putting down a platter of sandwiches, cheese, tuna fish, crackers, and a few sliced deli meats.

"It hasn't changed. I had a few fun days in Brazil where I learned a few things pertaining to the Cullens. I heard they had a casa on a private island and went to check it out. The lead checks out, it's a bit of a bungalow, but I couldn't find any vampires there. It had been used recently but seemed pretty deserted when I got there." Dante said getting a nod from Bella. "I also got a call from senor Dolph yesterday. He's finished his route through Africa and his making his way to America. I told him where you've set up shop and he says if he makes it to New England he'll come here."

"Yay! Oncle Dolph is showing up too. This is going to be great!" Grant cheered making both adults smile at him. They both knew how much Grant loved his adopted family so it seemed a long awaited reunion was on its way. The last time all of them had been together was nearly two years ago, they crossed paths every once and a while but never for long.

"That's good to hear indeed, I was beginning to miss both you and him." Bella said with a smile getting a raised eyebrow from Dante.

"Beginning? Senorita both senor Dolph and I know you worry about us constantly. You may not openly worry but that doesn't mean you don't worry at all." Dante said with a grin. "You'll be more at ease with senor Dolph and me here, even more so if senorita Mad and senor Hiro show up as well."

"Alright fine, but I can't help worry about you guys. Half of the mess we're in is because of some connection I have anyway." Bella said with a snort.

"Si and it is also the reason senor Dolph, senor Hiro, this chico, and I am still alive. Our mutations may have given us an edge, but it wouldn't mean anything since we didn't know how to kill vampires at the time." Dante said with a grin.

"Yea well, whatever. Eat lunch you two, then I expect you to get back to that research paper young man." Bella said to Grant before turning to Dante. "And you, we'll be looking at all the locations of covens we've eliminated. Something tells me as a group we've taken out more covens than we possibly know. Something a vampire in England told me got me thinking and it's about time we see just how much damage we've caused to those vampires."

"That sounds good senorita." Dante said turning to the food set out before them.

"Oui mère." Grant responded without a lot of enthusiasm. Lunch was then filled with laughter and talking as the three caught up. Grant was happy to have his oncle Dante with them and Bella was just glad to see her friend was in perfect health. Dante was just glad that he finally could relax a bit and that he was around two of the few people he would happily call family.

After lunch as Grant sat nearby working on his research paper and pretending not to listen, Bella and Dante discussed the covens they eliminated over world map. In truth they had already taken out pretty much every coven in South America, there were a few that Dante didn't get because they either fled or were just that well hidden. Bella and Grant had greatly reduced the number of covens in Europe. However Bella noticed that there were more Covens in Europe than anywhere else. Dante figured that somewhere in Europe there was a Mecca for vampires but neither mutant knew where it was.

"Dolph can give us more information about the covens in Africa when he shows up. If I know that man he will show up just because we're both here." Bella said with a smile.

"Si and we can call senorita Mad to see if she can give us the detailed information about the Asian area. That just leaves some Central and North American places we haven't covered yet." Dante said looking at the map. It was surprising how many covens there had been in the world, they hadn't thought about it until they mapped it out.

"Well there are those large covens we've left be since we couldn't take them out by ourselves. Vampires may be easy to kill now but that doesn't mean they can't overwhelm us with numbers if they really wanted to." Bella said looking at the map, a few blue dots on it indicated the larger covens they had left be. There weren't many large covens but a trend had happen recently where two or three smaller covens were closer together and worked together. It made isolating and eliminating them harder to do.

"Perhaps after we have dealt with the Cullens and have gained the answers to our questions, we can focus on doing a world sweep. We already agreed that all of us will be needed to handle the Cullens, especially considering the abilities some of them have." Dante said getting a nod from Bella.

"We'll get to that when we get to it. For now we should focus on finding those damn vampires than fighting them." Bella said with a sigh. "This is good enough for now; we'll have to get the information from Mad and Dolph though. If we're lucky enough we can see exactly what pattern the other covens have been taking due to our threat."

"Si senorita, aside from this how are things really going with HYDRA?" Dante asked looking at Bella.

"Quiet for the most part, we've run into one or two things with Dr. G but it seems most of that organization wants nothing to do with us." Bella said with a frown. "I don't like it but I can't really do anything about it either."

"For now that is good enough unless they do start to try and really pull something, we should leave them alone senorita. The more attention we attract from them the more they will want to end us." Dante said getting a nod before both adults looked up at the clock to see how long it took them to put all their information together onto a map. "It is almost time for dinner."

"Yea, but I don't want to cook really. Do you want to cook something?" Bella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really, I don't particularly want to clean up afterwards." Dante admitted before they both turned to Grant.

"Don't look at me, you both won't let me near a stove." Grant said getting a chuckle from Dante and a smirk from Bella.

"No, but we were wondering if you wouldn't mind eating out tonight. You can even pick were we go. I for one don't really care and I don't think Dante does either. Do you?" Bella asked Dante who shook his head.

"Just so long as it is not Taco Bell." Dante said with a smile.

"Then can we go to McDonalds? Please?" Grant asked jumping away from his research paper like it was going to bite him.

"Sure kiddo, McDonalds sounds fine." Bella said with a smile making Grant cheer.

When the trio got to McDonalds it wasn't very busy. In fact the trio of mutants was the only customers sitting in the eating area after they got their orders. Bella may have said they could eat anywhere but she wasn't a big fan of McDonalds. She thought it was very over priced for how little they actually served you, even if she did always order off the Dollar Menu. Dante didn't care much for fast food either, though he did like the fries. Grant only liked McDonalds because of the happy meals; he really liked getting a toy with his meal. It meant he had something to actually bug his guardians with.

"Geez oncle, are you trying to create a mountain of fried potatoes?" Grant asked looking at the mound of fries Dante had on his tray.

"If I'm going to get filled up on this processed crap I might as well do so with my favorite item on the menu chico." Dante answered with a shrug. "What is your toy this time?"

"A Jackson action figure." Grant said holding up the little plastic toy Native American man that was supposed to best represent one of the characters in his mom's book. "I'm not sure what it does yet, mère set all of the ones sent to us on fire."

"You have to love commercialism, if for nothing else than for the simple fact it makes a good stress reliever." Bella said getting a chuckle from Dante who knew how much the brunette woman hated all the merchandise her first series ended up producing. Last Halloween when Bella had been in the states she absolutely refused to go trick or treating with Grant after seeing some of the Edmund and Annabelle costumes in the store. Grant ended up pulling out all the stops to convince Bella to go and even then it was done with reluctance.

"I'm sure that's true senorita." Dante said with a smile. Sometimes even he liked trashing some of the excessive amounts of merchandise that seemed to unload onto Bella whenever a new toy or something came out.

The three mutants happily ate their food, talking about the small things in life that seemed insignificant to their goals. Grant and Dante got into a small debate whether or not some new singer was going to make it after her first hit. Grant thought she would simply because she looked like a model, while Dante thought she wouldn't because she couldn't sing very well. Bella didn't care either way since she was so used to some singers sounding like they came out of a cookie cutter these days. There were a few rare music artists that she actually liked because they were unique and different, but commercialism hit the music industry the same way it hit authors these days. She wondered if there was some way to get a major hit without having fifty other companies hording in on the creativity of it all. Bella could swear that a little voice that sounded exactly like Madison was in her head muttering about social sheep. Otherwise it was a pretty much mundane visit to McDonalds, just like any other family might have. Bella barely even took notice as a group of teenagers entered the fast food joint.

"Alright kiddo, go put your trash in the bin and we'll be on our way back to the house." Bella said once they finished eating. Grant had been the last to finish because he was trying to figure out exactly what his toy did. He had to admit after he figured out how it shifted into a wolf he was rather disappointed. Bella did say he could blow it up once they got home though, so he was happy.

"Oui mère." Grant said picking up his tray of trash and making it towards the trash can. On his way however he accidently ran into one of the teenagers that had entered when Bella wasn't paying attention. Grant ended up on his butt with his tray and trash scattered on the ground, looking up at a rather annoyed teenage girl. "Merde, I am so sorry. I wasn't watching were I was going." Grant said instantly as he quickly fixed his sunglasses.

The teen was a rather intimidating looking Goth girl with brown hair and two white stripes in the front. She was frowning down at the young Cajun with an irritated look on her face. "Well be more careful next time swamp rat." The girl snapped at him.

"Hey now, my son apologized to you. There is no reason for you to be so rude to him." Bella said instantly defending Grant. She had come over when she saw what had happened and was in the process of helping Grant up. She was also picking up the mess that was made. "He is after all just a little kid."

The teen opened her mouth to say something when one of her friends came over with an amazed look on her face. "Like oh my god! You're Susan Meadows! I've read all the Twilight books, you're an amazing author!" The pink clad brunette girl exclaimed getting a confused look from her friend and a sheepish smile from Bella.

"Well I don't know about that. When I think of amazing authors I instantly think of J.R.R. Tolkien or Mark Twain. I still have a lot of growing to do before I'm on that level, but yes, I am Susan Meadows." Bella said with a warm smile to the girl.

"It's still an honor to meet you, my name is Kitty Pryde. This is my friend Rogue; don't mind her, she's just having a bad day." Kitty said with a smile.

"Well I can't say anything to that then, we all have bad days every once in a while." Bella said although she had a feeling Rogue's problem ran deeper than just a bad day. The teen seemed almost hostile to her adopted son for some reason.

"So this is your son?" Kitty asked looking between Grant and Bella.

"Adopted son yes, he's not too fond of his real name so he just goes by Grant." Bella said with a smile as she ruffled the boy's hair.

"Awe you're adorable." Kitty cooed making Grant grin sweetly up at her while Bella fought not to laugh. She wondered when her adopted son had become a lady charmer but figured he was always like that. Bella did notice that the scene seemed to put Rogue in more of a foul mood though.

"Senorita as much as I hate to interrupt we do have to leave soon." Dante said walking up to the group lowering the rim of his cowboy hat as he did so. Honestly the man looked like a gunslinger from an old western movie. He probably could fit right on set with Zorro actually.

"You're right, it was nice meeting you Kitty and I'm glad you enjoyed the books." Bella said turning to the teen.

"Oh, before you go can you sign my book? I would ask you to sign another one but I don't have it with me." Kitty said making Bella and Dante share a look.

"Well I know I have time for at least that, do you happen to have a pen as well?" Bella asked while Grant finished putting his trash into the bin.

"Yep, just give me a second to get it." Kitty said rushing over to her backpack and coming back with her copy of Breaking Dawn and a pen. "I just got your new book Shadow Hunters yesterday and began reading it. I would have liked for you to continue the series you were on, but this new book seems interesting enough. My friend Kurt is really enjoying it at least; I had to get another book because he stole my other one."

"Well that's good to here, I have another follower." Bella said with humor making Kitty smile. "I hope you both enjoy that book as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm working on the sequel as we speak but had to take a few weeks off for R and R. As much as I enjoy writing I do have to take a break every now and then or I end up frustrated with it. Do you write?"

"Only some poems I come up with. I don't think I'll ever get them published or anything, but it helps when I'm having a bad day or can't sort out my thoughts." Kitty said still looking at Bella like she was some superstar.

"Hm, well here you go. I'm staying in Bayville for a while so we may run into each other again. Until then it was nice meeting you and your friend." Bella said handing back the now signed book and the pen.

"It was nice meeting you too." Kitty said before Bella turned to leave with Dante and Grant. As Bella was leaving she listened to what the two girls had to say.

"Who was that?" Rogue asked sounding a bit confused.

"That was only Susan Meadows, one of the best authors of our time." Kitty responded sounding like a hero worshiping fan.

"Oh." Was the response.

"Why did you act so mean to her son?" Kitty asked in concern.

"I don't know; it just sort of slipped out. He reminds me of Gambit and you know how annoying he's being lately." Rogue answered making Bella slightly interested. She could recall the name Gambit from somewhere but she didn't know where she heard it.

"I don't know I think it's kind of cute." Kitty was saying as the door closed cutting off the rest of the conversation.

"Thanks Dante, I think she was about to eat me alive." Bella said with a frown.

"Don't mention it; I know how some of your fans get senorita, especially when they see you outside of book signings." Dante said then he looked at her curiously. "What's on your mind?"

"Have you heard of the name Gambit before?" Bella asked getting a shrug.

"It sounds like a nickname or code name. Maybe it's one of their friends." Dante suggested and Bella shrugged.

"I don't know but it just sounded familiar. Anyway let's get home; it's probably been one hell of a day for you." Bella said getting a nod from Dante.

"Mère when we get home can I blow this up using those fireworks you won't let me have?" Grant asked waving his toy around.

"I don't see why not; just don't set the house on fire." Bella said with a smile and sigh. She would worry about why the name Gambit sounded familiar later, for now she would just enjoy being in the company of her adopted son and brother.

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YAY!! *Yawn* I finally managed to put in one of Bella's infamous friends we hear about on the telephone but never see. Honestly I had a bit of trouble getting him to cooperate the way I wanted. He either turned out to be a spanish speaking sufer dude or an uptight bastard, anyway I think I nailed my target area for him at least, I hope I did. Um, yea, we get to see some of what they're doing in Bayville and around the world and Bella's status as author has come into light. Anyway I'm going to stop rambling and work in the next chapter, since it's one of the longer ones I don't know how long it will take me to update. Hopefully it won't be more than a few days but as soon as it's finished I'll get it up, promise.

REVIEW!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Sorry! I know this took way longer than any other time I've updated and I don't have much of an excuse. I did get a bit of writers block near the end and it took me several attempts to finally get the last bit to be semi decent. I'm still just a bit displeased with the ending but I've changed it so much and so many times that I finally had to say chuck it and leave it how it was. I also got lazy near the end in editing because of it so if there are a few mistakes that's the reason. I couldn't look at it without trying to rewrite it another time. But I think I've gotten passed the writers block and will be updating a bit more from now on. Just let me get back in the groove of things now that I've gotten over the snag I caught myself in. Anyway, I would like to thank all of you who've reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: I own only what I've created, everything else belongs to much more talented people than I am.

**ENJOY!!**

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Blowing some smoke out of her mouth in a huff, Bella shoved her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. For once she didn't care what she looked like to the public so she didn't have her contacts in and had left her dentures at home. It felt nice to have her hair down and not have to wear some disguise; it felt even better now that she was wearing one of her leather vests, some dark washed form fitting blue jeans, and her beloved boots. Normally the look was only reserved for hunting down vampires or information about vampires, but since there were no vampires in Bayville she figured it was also her mutant look.

The whole reason she was walking down some of the near deserted streets of Bayville was because she was frustrated with her newest book and needed some alone time. She loved her boys very much but there was only so much masculinity a woman could take before she started to lash out. It was especially true for Bella since her temper only went so far, and listening to Dante and Grant argue over which sports they were going to watch nearly sent her over the edge.

So there she was, walking around Bayville enjoying the whole feel of suburbia around her. She often thought it funny that looks could be so deceiving. The town seemed so safe and quiet; it was hard to believe it was the stomping ground for at least two mutant groups that didn't like each other. The other day she saw the end damage of a mutant fight in the downtown area, a few walls were knocked down and a lot of property damage had been caused. Luckily it seemed that no one got hurt, well at least no bystanders got hurt, she didn't know what state the mutants had been in at the end of it all. Really aside from that and one or two other incidents the place was a sort of down home community with some class thrown in.

As she walked she let her mind relax. It was a mild form of mediation she had learned a while back to help control her anger. She watched the clouds go by in the sky, a few cars drive by every now and then; just normal everyday life playing out around her and it calmed her. Her book didn't matter, vampires were not a problem, HYDRA was a distant memory, and not even the large silver man that just flew through a wall and past her could dampen her mood.

"Wait, what?" Bella asked looking both left and right in shock. Sure enough a silver skinned man was standing up muttering in Russian across the street. Looking at where he had come from she noticed the hole in the wall actually led to a warehouse that had some people inside. Letting out the smoke in her lungs she crushed her cigarette and slipped into the shadows without anyone noticing.

Bella watched the fight that was obviously between two mutant factions, or it would be if she considered some tall buff guy with a red dome helmet thrashing a bunch of teenagers a fight between mutant factions. It took her a minute but she did spot some older mutants also in the fray. The older mutants were guiding the younger ones in an attempt to stop this one person, and from what Bella could understand their goal was to take the big helmet off the guy's head. Ignoring their main goal for now, Bella focused on the mutants involved. She admitted they all had some talent, some may not have a lot of talent but they all had it. With some polishing they would all make great fighters, but some didn't seem to use their powers wisely or to their greatest ability. Others didn't seem to have all that much control on their powers and a few others didn't have very useful powers for the opponent they were facing. She also was amused by some of their outfits; she would have killed herself if she had to wear that much spandex like material. She knew it wasn't spandex because even from here she could smell the difference but that didn't mean it wasn't skin tight.

Shaking her head she refocused on the mutant themselves. It was then her eyes narrowed because she caught sight of two girls she actually knew. She wondered exactly what Rogue and Kitty were doing there, until she saw Kitty seemed to melt straight through the floor to get away from the raging man. Some part of her felt it had to be surprised while the rest of her had to be somewhat impressed, what little bit extra of her was simply amused by the whole thing. She watched as one mutant threw a card at the raging man and she started seeing it explode. She had seen that power many times before with Grant and his throwing knives. Catching sight of the mutant she took in his appearance in more detail, she was almost frozen with shock when she got a glimpse of the man's eyes. If Grant had shorter reddish brown hair and was at least eight years older Bella could swear her son would be that man's twin.

The next shock nearly flew straight into Bella had she not moved aside in time. She winced slightly when another person was thrown through the wall of the warehouse. However she could still hear the man's heartbeat as he slid across the pavement outside so she wasn't worried. A few moments later Bella had to fight from not gasping as she saw who exactly the man was. She had only seen pictures of him before but had never thought of seeing him in real life. "Sabertooth." She hissed softly, so softly it was a whisper even to her sharp hearing. However the man turned in her direction anyway, but she was already around the corner of the broken wall by then.

A few seconds after she left the building another hole was made in it. She was honestly wondering if the structure would remain standing from all the damage its support was taking. As it was she barely jumped over the man that nearly skidded into her legs and a few feet away from her. She quickly hid as he groaned and sat up shaking the stars from his head. She couldn't help but gasping that time as she saw yet another man she thought she'd never see in real life. She wondered what the odds were that not only was her great uncle in Bayville but her own grandfather was there as well. Making a quick decision she fled the area, she may have wanted to meet the two men but she wasn't in the mood to get dragged into a fight at the moment. What she didn't know was Logan had spotted her movement as she was leaving.

Bella used her impressive speed to carry her as far from the fight as she could get without leaving the city limits. She was still reeling from the shock of what she just saw when her phone rang. She cursed herself mentally for jumping at the sound but nevertheless picked up. "Hello?" She asked with a sigh.

"Bella! I'm so glad I got a hold of you." The woman on the other end said making Bella mentally sigh this time.

"Hello Camilla how may I help you? This isn't about my next book is it? You know I have at least a few more months before my projected deadline." Bella said relaxing at the sound of her publisher's voice.

"Oh it's nothing about that; I was just hoping you weren't busy in four days." Camilla said sounding like she was waving off the book comment.

"I wasn't planning anything why do you ask?" Bella asked hoping it wasn't really what she thought it was. If it was she hoped it was in New York somewhere, she was not going to go flying around the country doing her author thing now that she was supposedly back.

"Well I figured since you've been out of the limelight for a few months that you could do a few speeches to schools around the area you're in. Don't worry; I know you don't want to go jetting across America being a spokesperson for authors everywhere to school children. Since it's been so long since you were in New York I figured this would be the perfect place to get some publicity so everyone is ready for when your next book does come out." Camilla said and Bella let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding. A few schools in the area she could do, it was better than running around on some book signing routine Camilla had come up with again.

"That doesn't sound too bad, what's the furthest school?" Bella asked curiously.

"It's not that far really, just a few in Jersey City but otherwise it's mostly in your area and the New York City area." Camilla answered happily.

"Okay, but afterwards I would like some time to sit down and really write. I got a lot done but hit a snag just today. If I want this thing done around the time I said it probably would, be I need to have time to write too." Bella said quite pleased with that bit of information.

"That won't be a problem; the first school on your run is actually Bayville High School. It'll be four days from now so you can whip something together. I emailed you all the details so you can work from that. Oh, and if you don't mind I also said that you'll have a two hour of book signing afterwards." Camilla said making Bella blow some of her bangs out of her eyes.

"Sure, that won't be a problem. I was just out on a run, so when I get back to my place I'll start to get things together and call you later." Bella said knowing she just made her publisher very happy.

"That's great; I'll talk to you soon." A small click signaled that her publisher was gone and Bella hung up her phone.

"Just perfect, well might as well head back and tell the boys." Bella said going towards the more populated area of Bayville to flag down a taxi.

When she got back to the house and told Dante and Grant everything that happened, she wasn't surprised by the responses. In fact she knew both males so well she had already guessed what their responses would be. Dante had been amused by Bella's announcement of her publishers plan while Grant simply groaned and rolled his eyes. As opposed to both of them becoming alert and surprised when she told them all about the mutant fight she had witnessed. Dante had been intrigued that both Wolverine and Sabertooth were in the same town. On the other hand Grant wanted to know all about the mutant that had the same eyes and similar powers to him. Bella had mentally cursed herself for not catching the man's name, or code name. Otherwise Bella got ready for her speech at Bayville High School in a few days.

By the time the actually day of the speech rolled around Bella was regretting agreeing to this. Bella really hated that her publisher always wanted to shove her into the spot light. Bella was never comfortable with all the attention and would rather be lurking in the background. However, she put on a brave face and whined to Dante that morning. In fact Dante and Grant practically dragged her to the stupid thing themselves. Unfortunately Bella hadn't found out until after she agreed that the school was only the venue. It was actually a public event on a calm Saturday when school was out of session. Although Bella was happy to see some of the other authors she knew through her publisher were also in attendance. One of those authors happened to be a very good friend of hers.

"Angela! It's good to see you!" Bella said rushing up and giving her friend a hug. The other woman just laughed softly returning the hug with the same vigor. "How's Ben been doing? Did you both enjoy your honeymoon?" Bella asked with a smile. Really it had been a year since she last saw her friend from Forks and that was just to go to the girl's wedding. Bella had been touched that Angela wanted her and Madison to be in her wedding party so both mutants made sure to go. The wedding wasn't anything spectacular but it was beautiful in a natural sort of way.

"Ben is doing just fine and the honeymoon was fantastic." Angela said with a smile. "I'm still surprised you actually paid for that. My parents and my in-laws all thought you were insane."

"Eh, they met Mad and didn't think anything of it. Besides, you were like one of the only friends I had at Forks; of course I would want your special day to be well special." Bella said with a smile. "I know I haven't been in touch but with running around Europe, taking care of Grant, and trying to write my next book things sort of got out of hand for a while."

"Don't worry; things have been hectic for Ben and me as well. I'm already on my third book and I have a feeling things are going to be delayed." Angela said with a smile that suggested she knew something Bella didn't.

"Oh? How so, you're usually really good with the deadlines you set yourself?" Bella asked with a confused frown.

"Well I went to the doctors two weeks ago and I found out that Ben and I will be having a new member of the family joining us." Angela said making Bella brighten up.

"Oh my god, really? Dear lord I've been spending way too much time around my fans, but seriously? You and Ben are going to have a baby? That's great; I know you'll make an excellent mother." Bella said happy for her friend.

"That's what everyone is telling me but I'm still a bit worried. Ben may be out of school and I may be secure in my career as an author but I still have doubts." Angela said making Bella snort.

"Angela you are perhaps the third best young adult mystery author in the business today. If you don't call that established I don't know what will, and no, I don't mean getting a movie deal in there either." Bella said making her friend smile.

"Ms. Meadows they're ready for you and Mrs. Cheney you'll be going on right after her." One of the coordinators of this whole assembly said making Bella smile at him warmly.

"I'll be right there, thank you." She said getting a nod from the coordinator who went off to do something else. "Well wish me luck and that I won't get mobbed."

"You'll do just fine; we'll catch up later after the book signing." Angela said getting a nod from Bella.

"See you in a few." Bella called back before going off to take the stage.

For Bella the actual speech was rather mundane and nothing the millions of butterflies in her stomach had pestered her for. She had gotten used to giving speeches to other people by now and found it to be a bit enjoyable, if she managed to get over the staring in the first five minutes. While she never really knew why, she always could captivate her audience when she was droning on about the importance of creative writing.

As she gave her speech her eyes scanned over the crowd taking them in, some individually some as a whole. That was until her eyes landed on a bald man sitting in a wheelchair, there wasn't anything very significant about him outwardly but he had an air about him. He was one of those people that could command attention without asking for it, but also came off as a bit of a scholarly person if his attention to her speech was anything to go by. Deep within the recesses of her mind though, the part that was shielded with her powers, she knew that the man had been one of the mutants fighting in that warehouse a few days previous. She also found many other mutants from that fight peppered through the audience, the white haired weather controlling woman, the various teens, and even a few of the gruff older male mutants. She was slightly amused to note that not only was Sabertooth sitting with that small group so was the man that reminded her strikingly of Grant, there was also another tall burly man and finally a younger man with flaming red hair who was paying the most attention to her speech. She also noted sitting near Kitty and a few other teens was her grandfather, obviously being some sort of chaperon for them.

By the time her speech ended she was glad to leave and she got a standing ovation from her audience. She gave Angela a quick hug of encouragement before grabbing a bottle of water. As Angela gave her speech Bella found a seat near where the book signing would take place. Bella had just been one of several authors to give a speech in this circuit. The mutant had to admit Camilla knew her stuff, especially since the publisher had booked an author for every genre to give a speech. Bella just happened to be the fantasy writer on the circuit. Suddenly her musing was interrupted by her cell phone ringing. "Hello?" She asked picking it up.

"Ms. Bella it's me Dolph." The person on the other line said making her perk up.

"Dolph how are you? I'm doing fine; I'm at that author speech thing Camilla booked me for." Bella said conversationally as she glanced around to see if she had any eavesdroppers.

"I'm doing well but since you're busy I'll keep it short. Things went well in Africa and I'm a few days away from getting a plane to Orlando. I'll rendezvous with you in a few weeks." The Englishman said making Bella smile.

"That sounds great; I'll tell Dante and Grant. They will be happy to hear from you." Bella said seeing a one of the workers walk by. "I have to go though; it's almost time for my book signing so I'll have to call you later."

"That will be most excellent; I hope your book signing goes well. I shall see you in a few weeks."

"Yep, until then." Bella said shortly before both of them hung up. Taking a drink of her water she wondered what Dolph would have to tell them about their vampire problem. Pushing down the anticipation that was already building at the thought of her other adopted brother finally returning home, Bella went to her designated desk and started to scarf down some of the provided food. She wouldn't know how long she would get to actually eat when her hand was busy writing signatures.

"Trying to gain five pounds in five minutes?" Someone asked and Bella looked up to find a charming young man with curly brown hair and laughing blue eyes. He was rather handsome and in his late twenties, dressed in a black dress shirt and some tan dress pants.

"No but I missed breakfast so I'm trying to balance it out. How've you been Tony?" Bella asked with a smile as the man leaned against a nice black cane he needed to use to walk.

"Great, I just released a new book last Tuesday that's a pretty good hit. At least that's what those guys over at the New York Times are saying. I personally wish I could have done better on it but its slim pickings with my competition these days. At least I haven't gone down the whole mutant path." Tony Walker said with a sigh as he sat down at the table next to Bella's.

"It's really that bad? I thought most crime writers wouldn't pull that stunt." Bella said with a frown.

"Ah, that's the thing; we writers of crime go were the crime does. Personally I believe the whole mutant thing is more your area of expertise or at least Gerald's what with all the science and stuff behind it. Everything about it screams comic book to me, but I'd rather read about your vampires, werewolves, and witches any day. One of my competitors over at Wilkins has been turning out mutant story after mutant story. I prefer the less than desirable routes." Tony said with a sigh. "Or, I'd much rather be out there in the field actually brining people to justice rather than just writing about what my colleagues have faced already."

"Awe, but you're one of the best crime writers out there because you were a cop. Besides, you know Natasha is much more comfortable with you being an ass behind a computer screen than worrying if you will make it home after a run through Detroit. I hear that it's a pretty nasty place, there and Cleveland." Bella said but she still did feel for Tony. The man was a great young cop up until two years ago when a takedown went wrong. Tony survived but had some bad spinal damage making it hard for him to walk without assistance from a cane. He needed some money because of all the hospital bills still piling up, the insurance only went so far and with him out of work and his wife a waitress they were hard pressed for cash. So, Tony went into the writing business, it was perhaps the only other thing he was really good at and he could relate to his characters well.

"Well yea, but some days I just miss it still. But the doc says I'm doing much better, with a bit more physical therapy I might be able to walk short distances without this thing helping me." Tony said waving his cane with a wry grin. "I know I won't ever be back on the force but it'd be nice to go jogging."

"Well keep that in mind and you'll do it. Natasha knows how much of a mule you can bee." Bella said with a smirk.

"You can say that again, I didn't want to do this tour thing but she practically forced me out of the house, said if I didn't go I could sleep on the lawn. I love the woman with all of my heart but some days I wonder who is the more stubborn of the both of us." Tony said with a smirk. "So how was Europe?"

"Eh, it had fine people, fine cultures, and fine alcohol, the way it's always been I suppose. I went on a few of those tourist routes but for the most part went exploring on my own. Grant loved it of course, I think he feel in love with Prague, or just the fact all the women we came across thought he was adorable. I swear he's going to grow up to be a lady's man." Bella said with a roll of her eyes.

"Course he is, I saw the first day I met him and he instantly got Natasha to coo over him. Although I have to admit you've done right by that boy. He's smart and no doubt will know a thing or two about the world when he's old enough to leave your smothering. Speaking of which, where's the little fire cracker now?" Tony asked looking for Bella's adopted son who practically never left her shadow.

"My adopted brother Dante is staying here so I figure I could leave Grant in his care for a few hours. He's a good man but sometimes I think they try to conspire against me." Bella said rolling her eyes with a smile on her face. Tony just chuckled and leaned back in his seat.

"I know the feeling. My little Courtney is the same way when around my Natasha, they're always trying to get me do what they want. I find it rather cute, just so long as they don't cause us to go bankrupt." Tony said with a fond smile.

"I'm sure it is. So what's on your plate for the next few months? Are you going to work on your next book or are you going to spend time with your ladies?" Bella asked curiously. She knew more than a few authors that worked for Camilla, they were all friendly with one another so it helped the work atmosphere when they had to go on another one of Camilla's group signing tours.

"Actually I got an offer to help write a screen play for an upcoming NCIS episode. I guess one of the producers are a big fan of my books and after much debating offered me a slot. I'm still talking it over with Camilla since I'm not a screen writer by any stretch, but it sounds fun and the pay isn't half bad either." Tony said with a smile.

"Wow, moving up in the world are you? Don't tell me you'll go all Hollywood on us. I don't think I could stand you with a stiff shoulder." Bella teased with a smile.

"Easy for you to say Ms. I-have-four-box-office-hits." Tony shot back with a chuckle. "Hey, did you hear about Richard?"

"Yea, poor man, how's he been doing?" Bella asked curiously.

"He's out of the hospital but the car crash really messed him up bad. I've been to a few of them before and from the pictures his wife Savanna showed me it was one of the worse. He lost his right hand when the cars smashed, completely severed it. The docs tried to save it but the damage was too extensive." Tony said grimly making Bella sigh.

"Well I hope he recovers enough to have a good life. Although I have to admit it will be a sad day if he calls off being an author because of medical issues. He's one of the best, I still read all his books and the plot and endings always get me." Bella said getting a nod from Tony.

"There's an ongoing investigation into the accident though. I heard from a few of my old friends at the station that it's because he was so famous and had gotten a few enemies in the past. Looking over just what the press got to release I can see the glaring signs that there may have been some foul play involved." Tony said with a frown.

"Dang and I had hoped it was just an accident. Are you sure?" Bella asked with a frown as well.

"I didn't become a homicide detective on luck alone Sue. I know what to look for and I still have my instincts. That's something that drug rink couldn't take from me." Tony said making Bella sigh. "Ah well, let's change the subject, you going to tell me what your real name is?"

"Not today Tony, you'll still have to guess it." Bella said with a smile used to the name game already. Tony was the second to realize that she used a pen name; the first had been Angela of course. The conversation continued as the rest of the authors meandered over to their tables. Bella was amused to note that on her other side sat their resident romance novelist Sandra Maclay.

It really didn't take long for people to start to show up to get their books signed. Amazingly Bella had managed to collect a rather divers group of readers over the years. She met all types of people and with her last book gained an even larger fan base. Shadow Hunters deviated from her Twilight series quite a bit and it attracted more than just teenage girls or love sick old women, since it was mainly focused around a strong female protagonist that dealt with supernatural terrorist organization it appealed to a larger variety of people. It wasn't all romance and held mostly action that kept people guessing until the end what exactly would happen. So Bella wasn't surprised when various people showed up to get that book signed even if she still had a large wave of teenage girls that wanted their Twilight books signed as well.

"I have to admit Ms. Meadows you've gotten quite the turn out." A calm voice accompanied her next book she was supposed to sign. Looking up Bella found herself locking eyes with the bald man in a wheelchair.

"Yes, I seem to have acquired quite the following indeed. Personally though I find my last book was much more interesting than my previous four." Bella admitted with a smile getting one in return.

"Yes it was; I also noted all the political undertones of it. It was quite a masterpiece indeed." The man said with a smile. "My name is Professor Charles Xavier by the way."

"It's a pleasure to meet you professor. I'm ashamed to say though I've heard you've published a few things in the past I have yet to read them. Genetics and the like isn't exactly my cup of tea, but that doesn't mean I don't have time for them." Bella said with a smile.

"I imagine so, but the genetic disease in your last book did have quite a bit of merit to it." Xavier said with a smile.

"Yes, well that was only because I managed to talk a friend of mine into giving me a cursory background in the subject. He does a lot of work for cancer research so I had hoped he knew what he was talking about." Bella said with a smile. "Sometimes even we fiction writers need a helping hand from the real world. I hope you like the sequel I'll be writing for this book, I've been spending quite a bit of time on it already."

"I look forward to reading it." Xavier said before wheeling himself away. While Bella maintained her polite happy smile on the inside she was frowning. She didn't miss the slight probing at her shields, while it wasn't anything that could warrant alarm it was disconcerting. She always considered the curious man to be the deadliest. Although now she knew why she keyed in on the man while giving her speech, there was no doubt in her mind that he was the same Charles Xavier that Mad told her about. Luckily enough she made her shield seemed like it was blocking repressed memories rather than actual information, otherwise she was sure he'd find her a bit more suspicious than he first thought she was. Zeroing her hearing in on him and the white haired woman she wondered what he was saying.

"Did you figure out why she seemed so strange?" The woman was asking.

"No, her mind is just as open and filled with normal things as anyone else is. She had a few suppressed memories that I wouldn't be able to access unless I dug deeper. I normally don't use my powers on someone without their permission so I only went so far." Charles said thoughtfully. "Although she is a rather smart and creative woman, I'm sure you would like her Ororo."

Tuning them out Bella turned to the next person in front of her. She didn't really care but it was nice to know he was polite about his invasions of privacy. If it wasn't for the fact that she could consciously block out telepaths from her mind she would almost find him an honorable man by that fact alone. Mentally shaking her head, Bella turned to share a helpless smile with Tony as both were swamped by fans all wanting their attention.

It was as things were finally winding down and the last fans were getting their books signed that Bella found anything interesting happening. In fact the whole thing walked right up to her in the form of the red head man and his sunglasses wearing friend she spotted Sabertooth sitting with during her speech. She found out that the red head was actually named St. John Allerdyce and a big fan of her books. Bella found him humorous in a Madison sort of way, if her best friend was a pyromaniac that is. They were in a deep discussion about one of the latest releases from another author when things turned slightly off.

"Pyro could you like just get your book signed and move on. There are still some people that want their turn too." A voice said making both Bella and St. John turn to the two people behind him. If Bella was completely honest "Pyro" as Kitty called him, Kitty herself, and one of Kitty's male friends were the last people she had to sign books for.

"Hey now Sheila, we were just having a conversation about other books. It's nothing to get into a fight over." Pyro shot back with a frown seeming displeased his conversation with Bella had been interrupted. Bella watched in slight amusement as Kitty and Pyro soon started to exchange insults.

"Don't worry about them Cheri, they don't like each other much." A smooth voice to her side said. Bella turned to look at the young man that reminded her so much of Grant.

"So I've noticed." Bella said with a small smile as Kitty's friend skirted around the arguing par.

"I am sorry about them. Kitty is a big fan of yours. She was extremely excited when she heard you were going to be giving a speech here." The boy said somewhat sheepishly. Bella thought he was rather cute with his hesitant smile and soft German accent.

"That's quite alright; I get it ever now and then. Would you like me to sign that?" Bella asked looking at the book in his hand.

"Ja, if you wouldn't mind. I'm Kurt by the way." Kurt said with a smile moving just slightly out of the way from the arguing pair.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Kurt, are you by any chance from Germany?" Bella asked curiously.

"Ja, I am." Kurt said as Bella easily signed the book.

"Hm, I actually was there not long ago. It's a rather beautiful place." Bella said making Kurt relax and grin.

"It is; I grew up near a forest in a small town. It's nothing like being here in America but I've managed to adjust rather well." Kurt said getting a snort from the man still off to the side.

"Remy doesn't mind other places but he much prefers his home in New Orleans." The man said joining the conversation.

"Yes, New Orleans has a charm all its own I admit. I particularly liked the French Quarter while I was there. The culture of that city is like none I've seen anywhere else." Bella said with a grin. "I take it your name is Remy?"

"Remy LeBeau at your service Cheri, but you may call Remy Gambit as well. It is his other name." Remy said making Bella mentally start but outwardly her face didn't change from its polite smile.

"Pleasure to meet you Remy." She said before turning back to the fighting par. "Should we stop them from arguing? They are starting to cause quite the scene."

"Remy has tried to control Pyro many times. He always gives up." Remy said with a shrug.

"I normally try not to get in between Kitty and whoever she's fighting unless it's really necessary. She's got a good pair of longs." Kurt answered making Bella sigh slightly before she cleared her throat getting the attention of the fighting duo.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but I have to leave soon, so Kitty if you'd like your book signed." Bella let the sentence hang slightly but in a polite manner as not to show just how irritated the arguing made her. She could stand people raising their voices around her after a few years of adjusting to her heightened senses but that didn't mean she particularly enjoyed it.

"Oh! Right, I am so like totally sorry." Kitty said handing over her book with a smile.

"It's quite alright." Bella said with a kind smile as she signed yet another one of Kitty's books.

"Thank you again." Kitty said with a smile once she got her book back.

"Kitty, Kurt, we have to get going Chuck's orders." A gruff voice said and Bella had to fight not to tense in shock. She was still debating what she would do about her grandfather, but having the man just walk up to her was quite disconcerting. Especially since in the five years since finding out about the man, Bella had discovered that he had lost his memories sometime in the eighties or nineties. It meant he probably had no clue he was a father, let alone a grandfather. "Victor." Logan nearly snarled at the cat like mutant when Sabertooth walked up.

"Logan." The blonde said in return as he grabbed the back of Pyro's shirt. Bella pretended to watch in confusion as Sabertooth dragged the red head away, with Gambit following not far behind. A few farewells later Bella sighed in happiness that the other mutants had finally left her alone. Although she had a sinking feeling that Sabertooth and Wolverine recognized her on some level if the look they each gave her was something to go on. As soon as both men got close to her, she noticed they suddenly had a slight gleam of recognition. Bella didn't know what that gleam meant let alone if it was good or bad but she didn't want any part of it. She still had her vampire problem to deal with; she could work on her family relations later.

The rest of her day wasn't quite as stressful. She got to catch up with Angela who was going to be on the whole tour with Bella. She also got to talk to a few other authors she was very good acquaintances with. After that she got to go home to Dante cooking one of her favorite Argentinean meals. She told her boys all about the encounter she had at the book signing. She also told them about how Dolph would be on his way from Africa soon. Grant was excited not only because he now knew the name of the person like him, but his uncle Dolph was going to be there soon. Grant loved his mother but he had to admit her range of cooking was limited and his uncle Dante only cooked South and Central American food. Dante was pleased with the information that they could file away for later use and was also anticipating his friend's arrival. The Argentinean couldn't wait to hear just how they did in the African front and anything else Dolph might have picked up on his travels. So that night all three mutants went to bed content that for now the future looked just a bit brighter than it had been.

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YAY!! I'm trying not to look up at this moment since I will just cringe. Anyway, we got to see a little bit of what is going on in Bayville and Angela made an appearance. I think Bella is peicing together the whole Gambit Grant thing but again I'm still cringing slightly so I can't go back and look. I just have this feeling I made someone OOC in the last bit but I'm not sure who or how. Obviously not my best work yet but it will have to do, else I'd be stuck on it for a very long time and would never reach the end. Anywho, enough of my ranting I'm going to go to greener pastures, eh, the next chapter and forget about this one. Well no, I have to remember some plot things in this chapter but certain details I'll be omitting from my mind.

REVIEW!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: YAY! It's my sister's birthday today so happy birthday to her. Um yea, I was having a bit of trouble editing this, simply because I kept getting sidetracked halfway through each time I tried. So there may be a few mistakes here and there that I normally would catch. This chapter is a bit shorter than the past few but that's okay I suppose since it's mostly plot development stuff. I would like to thank all of you that have reviewed, alerted, and/or favorited this story.

**Disclaimer**: I have ownership of only the OCs and the plot line, all of the rest belong to other people that are a lot richer than I am.

**ENJOY!!**

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Bella, Grant, and Dante sat on the couch in the living room. The three of them were watching TV intently. They had just gotten to the point when the leading lady of the horror movie they were watching was going to get killed, when the doorbell rang. Bella jumped instantly having her armor out from reflex, Grant suddenly had a force field up and was holding a throwing knife, and Dante disappeared from the room in a slight whirlwind like breeze. Bella forced herself to calm down with a few deep breaths before standing up.

"Stand down kiddo; it's probably just the pizza guy with our delivery." Bella said stretching out her sense and pulling in her armor as she went to the door. She could faintly hear someone cursing in Spanish upstairs signaling that was where Dante accidentally teleported himself to. However, she didn't smell pizza on the other side of the door so she opened it with some caution.

Standing in the dying sunlight on the front porch was a twenty-five year old man. His lithe but muscular form was clad in a three piece black suit. Add to that his dark glasses, he looked like he'd fit right in with the MIB. His tawny red hair was kept short and most of it was covered with a black fedora, the rim pushed down over his eyes as much as his sunglasses would allow. However he wore a polite smile and in an instant Bella knew his poison green cat-like eyes were laughing at her from behind those dark glasses. On second thought as she looked him over she felt he looked more suited as a lost Blues Brother rather than an MIB agent. If one were to over look the slim tawny red cat tail swishing behind him lazily, or the slightly too long fang poking out from his smirking lips. Bella wondered not for the first time how he managed to keep his cat ears under that fedora without it seeming awkward or causing him pain. Nevertheless she was ecstatic to see him.

"DOLPH!" Bella practically tackled the man even if he was nearly six foot five in height. The Englishman just chuckled good-naturedly as he was practically squeezed to death by his brunette friend.

"It's good to see you as well, Ms. Bella." Rudolph Hardwin greeted hugging the woman who was by all counts his sister in return.

"I'm so glad you're finally here. I was beginning to get worried after I finished my author tour and you still hadn't shown up yet. What took you so long? Don't tell me you had to run around America just to get here or did you get lost?" Bella asked letting go of the red head and practically dragging him and his suitcase inside. Dolph just chuckled as he took off his fedora to let the set of cat ears he had in place of human ones free movement. Dolph had often been teased by his friends that he looked like some cat-boy in an anime since outside of a pair of deadly retractable claws in his hands, his fangs, his cat ears, his cat tail, and the cat-like eyes he was very human looking.

"No, I didn't get lost. I did spend quite a bit of time at your mother's however. It seems we've underestimated some of the vampire covens and they went after Ms. Renee while I was staying at her home. The situation was resolved for the moment but things are starting to turn a bit too dire." Dolph said as the two made their way to the living room. "Where are Mr. Dante and Grant?"

"Well when you rang the doorbell the three of us were very much into this horror movie so you sort of startled us. Dante ended up upstairs somewhere and Grant-" Bella was cut off by the boy making his presence known on his own.

"Oncle Dolph!" Grant shouted now getting out of his shock before launching himself at the Englishman who easily caught him. "You're here, did you get me something? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"Yes, I did pick up a few things that you might like. However, before I give them to you, you must promise to take the utmost care of them." Dolph said with a smile for the first time in a while feeling like he finally was home.

"Oui oncle, I'll take very good care of them." Grant said with a grin.

"In that case, here's your present." Dolph said pulling a bag out of his suitcase easily.

"Merci oncle." Grant said jumping down from the man.

"Grant why don't you open it up in your room? Dolph and I need to chat a bit. However, if I hear one explosion you will regret it. Do I make myself clear young man?" Bella said sternly but with a smile on her face.

"Oui mère." Grant responded before trotting up the stairs. Bella could hear him tell Dante that Dolph arrived, so she wasn't surprised when their South American friend suddenly appeared in the living room.

"Senor Dolph you've finally made it." Dante greeted with a grin as the two men shared a half hug.

"It's good to see you in perfect health Mr. Dante." Dolph responded with a smile. Bella never could quite get Dolph to drop the whole Mr./Ms./Mrs. thing that he had a habit of doing. It somehow translated into Dante always addressing people as Senor/Senorita/Senora as well. So Bella just smiled and shook her head at how formal the two sounded even if they were really close friends.

"The same could be said about you. How was your trip?" Dante asked as the three older mutants went into the kitchen to sit around the table to talk.

"It was pleasant for the most part. I rather enjoyed Africa. I have found some really interesting information that could help us find the Cullens as well." Dolph said getting a cup of tea from Bella who was dispensing drinks.

"Really, what is so interesting about it?" Bella asked curiously sitting down with a cup of coffee once she handed over another cup of coffee to Dante.

"It seems they aren't the only vegetarian vampire coven. There is another one in Alaska, the Denali coven." Dolph said getting an interested look from Dante while Bella held a thoughtful one.

"I recall another vampire mentioning them once. It was not long before he was destroyed while I was still back in Forks. I think he was the mate of one of the vampires there but he was having trouble adjusting to their strictly animal blood diet." Bella said wondering if the Denali Coven was the coven Laurent was referring to that day in the woods.

"What I learned from the covens in Africa was that the Denali coven and the Cullen Coven are very close friends. At least Carlisle and the Denali leader Eleazar are close friends. It is possible that the Cullens have been sharing territory with them in Alaska. There is evidence pointing to at least Alice Cullen and Jasper her mate are in that area." Dolph said getting a nod from Bella.

"We should look into it but I first want to see what Mad and Hiro are up to. I don't feel comfortable taking on that whole coven without all of us there. I can easily take down Edward, but I would have a hard time dealing with a combined effort from the whole coven." Bella said getting a nod from Dolph.

"What else have we found out? Did we get any more information about HYDRA?" Dolph asked as Dante went to retrieve their map of vampire covens.

"Well this place is crawling with mutants; that's for sure. For some reason there are two factions of fighting mutants here in Bayville. From what I can tell it's a group that call themselves the X-men and a group of teens that call themselves the Brotherhood. There are another group of mutants that fight the X-men called the Acolytes. One of the Acolytes actually reminds me of Grant, they have similar powers and the same eyes. I think they may be related in some way. There is one more faction I know of called the Morlocks that live in the sewers; I haven't made contact with them and have only seen them twice, but they seem to be a neutral party." Bella answered getting a thoughtful look from Dolph.

"Do you know who the X-men and their enemies are specifically?" Dolph asked curiously.

"Well for the X-men there are four teachers, Charles Xavier, Logan, Ororo Monroe, and Hank McCoy. Professor Xavier doesn't have a code name but in order the others are Wolverine, Storm, and Beast. The rest of the X-men seem to be teenagers that the older ones are training to use their powers. As for the Brotherhood they are mostly teenagers but they seem to listen to a shape shifting mutant called Mystique. The Acolytes are all older, the youngest being St. John Allerdyce aka Pyro at the age of eighteen. The other Acolytes from what I know are Victor Creed aka Sabertooth, Remy LeBeau aka Gambit, Piotr Rasputin aka Colossus, and finally Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto." Bella said pulling the information from her memory. She couldn't remember all the X-men but just a few she figured were key players in the fights.

"I've heard of Magneto and Mystique before. They are radicals that support mutant superiority over humanity. I'm surprised to find them here, as well as your grandfather and great uncle. Do those two know of their relation to you?" Dolph asked curiously.

"No, it seems Logan as he goes by doesn't have any memories past the nineties while Sabertooth I have no idea. I can say they've seen me and haven't recognized me as anyone other than Susan Meadows though." Bella said knowing the two hadn't pursued her outside their initial recognition at the book signing. She was thankful for it since she had no idea what she would do had they shown up demanding an explanation.

"All things considered I still think we should stay away from the mutant activity until our vampire problems have been properly dealt with." Dante said walking into the kitchen holding their map of the world. "I don't think we could fight and protect ourselves on three fronts should things go south."

"I agree; it would be most beneficial to remain under the radar." Dolph said with a nod. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has made it clear they will not pursue us until they have a good enough reason to, since as far as they know we pose no threat."

"The only thing I would like to accomplish before we leave regarding other mutants is to see if Gambit and Grant are related. If they are, I would like to know in what way. It is going to be one mystery that will nag my mind for a while until it is solved. Otherwise I agree about the whole staying out of the mutant fighting thing for now. It will draw less attention to us and won't give Dr. G a good target to zero in on. I haven't forgotten about that wench just yet." Bella said getting nods from both men.

"How about I go into town and find Gambit to get a blood sample? I can quite easily get the sample and be gone before he even realizes what has happened." Dolph offered making the other two share a look.

"I don't see anything wrong with that. What do you think, Dante?" Bella asked curiously.

"Si senorita it is a good way to clear up that mess. We can send the sample along with a sample of Grant's blood to Senor Felix for a comparison." Dante said getting a nod from Bella.

"Good, so it's settled. After you get settled in, you can go get that blood sample from Gambit. We'll send it to Felix and see how he and Conrad have been doing these past few months." Bella said with a smile.

"In the mean time, why don't you show us exactly what the vampire coven's look like in location on this map Senor Dolph?" Dante asked unrolling the map for Dolph to see.

"So you've started to map the covens out? Why aren't these dots all the same?" Dolph asked curiously seeing various dots all throughout Europe, South and Central America.

"Some of them represent covens we've already eliminated while others are covens that we know of that are still among the living." Bella answered getting a nod from Dolph.

"Very well, let's get to work." Dolph said as the three mutants turned their focus on their main goal.

It wasn't long after Dolph finish mapping out the covens that the pizza arrived. Grant got to come down to eat, ecstatic about the present Dolph got him. As the four mutants ate they all got caught up and had fun. That night Bella went to bed feeling much more content than she had been in recent months. Her wayward family was piecing itself back together and it wouldn't be long before she had her hands around Edward Cullen's throat. In all the future was looking brighter and brighter with each new step she took in the direction of her final goal. The three older mutants agreed that not long after they clear up the new mystery surrounding Grant they would leave Bayville. Bella had grown weary of the town and had a good idea where they should go. The time for her to return to Forks Washington was approaching; she just hoped she would see Mad before she saw the Cullens. She made a mental note to make sure she called her blonde friend before going to bed that evening.

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YAY!! Dolph has made his debut appearance, one of the other people we got to hear from over the phone but haven't met. That only leaves Hiro but since he's with Mad it's safe to say when our beloved blonde shows back up he'll be tagging along. I still have a few more chapters before that happens though. Yea, this chapter is short mainly because it's introducing another character, in the next we'll learn a bit more about him and probably have a bit more character development. Don't worry I haven't forgotten about the Cullens, but they won't be making much of an appearance until at least three or four more chapters. But Bella is getting closer to them, so we will just have to wait in anticipation for their arrival. Until next time!

REVIEW!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: You know what, I greatly dislike the little dots that pop up when you type in a password. I understand their usefullness and all but really, it took me five freaking tries to sign in because I kept accidently misspelling my password. Yea, a bit annoyed. Anyway, been helping my mom set up things for my sister's birthday party, we held it on the weekend rather than in the middle of the week, so I wasn't exactly typing a whole lot. Plus my sis wanted to play our Sims game which is unfortunately downloaded on our faster computer, the one I have all my work saved to, so yea not much writing getting done. I know I have it all saved to a USB drive but truthfully I can't type real well on our slow computer so rather than get a headache I simply put things on hold. Anyway, thank you to all of you that have reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: I own only the OCs and plotline. Everything else have much richer owners than those two things do.

**ENJOY!!**

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It had been a little more than a week since Dolph first arrived in Bayville and he had to admit the place was rather picturesque. It didn't remind him of his home in England, since America had a feel all its own, but of all the places he had been this town was one of those he would find in a broacher. The weather for the most part was nice, the people were friendly just so long as he hid his obvious mutations, and despite it being close to a major American city the crime rate was relatively low. He figured this was what Americans meant when they spoke about suburbia.

However, the good atmosphere and weather weren't what brought him out on this day. He was stalking his quarry today. He admitted that he wasn't used to stalking other mutants but in the general sense he didn't see it any different from stalking vampires. Looking back on the past few years of his life he couldn't believe this was where he ended up. He knew Bella would only sate her curiosity like this if it was important in some way, and most of the decisions she made were tactical ones insuring their safety. That's what he loved about her, for all her bravado and nasty temper she was ultimately a very caring and protective person to those she deemed hers.

As he looked for the mutant called Gambit he thought back a few years ago before he met the wild brunette and her crazy blonde sidekick. Growing up in Whitechapel with a poor mother, he didn't see much of the world. In fact his mother ran a brothel and kept him sealed in the basement. Unlike some mutants he was born with his ears and tail. His mutation had frightened his mother dearly and as a result he lived a very isolated life. Then a man came to his mother's brothel, a man that it turns out was a vampire. Sometimes Dolph could still hear the screams of women dying in his sleep because a vampire coven attacked his mother's business. He figured in some ways he owed it to the vampire that eventually found him shackled to the cold basement wall after all the prostitutes were dead. He had been rather thin back then because his mother only saw it fit to feed him enough to survive. The head of that coven had found Dolph interesting and took the catlike mutant with him back to the coven's home. The following two years were strange for Dolph because he hadn't had any sort of human-like contact since he was born. His mother never saw it fit to really teach him how to talk properly, or any other human based skills. Dolph at the time was just as much a wild animal as he appeared. But he was a fast learner and soon was having amazing conversations about Socrates and Einstein with his vampire masters. Dolph hadn't ever thought about the world outside of his basement so once he started to learn he was like a sponge.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end at some point in time. His vampire masters had been on edge ever since they heard word that Bella Swan was in their territory. Dolph wanted to go find the woman and bring back her corpse for them. However, they didn't think he was capable of anything outside of being a cute kitten they adopted. He had tried to press his use to them, but they shot him down every time. He didn't like how they treated him as some sort of pet, despite not loving him his mother did drive home that he was human, he had thoughts and emotions. He could easily recall a few nights his mother would go down to his basement and tell him all about being human while she was blindly drunk. He had pressed his usefulness one last time and ended up cutting himself. The already tense atmosphere and scent of blood sent his vampire masters into a frenzy. It was then Dolph saw exactly who the animals of the equation were. He fought back easily, using a power they hadn't known he had to disappear from their senses, and used his sharp steal-like claws to leave deep scratches in his masters. It was during that fight that Bella and Mad stormed in. He had been in awe of their teamwork and fighting abilities. The vampires hadn't stood a chance against the two women, and when the fighting was done Dolph had expected to be next. That was until Bella told him that he was free to go. He had asked her why she'd let a vampire's pet leave when she killed its master; she had just smirked and answered that she only killed vampires, not mutants.

Dolph smiled remembering that moment, the turning point of his life. He had told them he had nowhere to go, no family to turn to. So, in true Bella style, he was dragged along with them to their motel. The two quickly got him new clothes, let him sleep in a warm bed (something that he never got to do even when living with the vampires), and they even fed him. He got to meet Grant, learn the game of chess, and in the end Bella asked him what he could do. He had been stunned at first, he would admit to that; no one had asked him what he was capable of before. So he told them everything he could, almost wanting to impress them so he could stay with them. Bella had been intrigued by his ability to become invisible to a person's senses. They had tested the ability a bit and found he would send out a low level telepathic wave that would tell a person's brain that he wasn't there. The victim couldn't see him, couldn't hear him, could feel him, couldn't smell him, and if they wanted to probably couldn't taste him either. Mad had explained the reasoning behind this was because everyone perceives things through their mind. However, Bella's shield protected herself from his power, so even if he tried his hardest she would be unaffected by it. He had been slightly disappointed hoping that it wouldn't mean they'd abandoned him. In the end he needn't worry, they quickly adopted him into their group where he met Dante and a little while later Hiro. In all honesty he wouldn't have changed any of that even if he had the chance. He had finally gotten the family he always wanted thanks to his encounter with vampires.

Tilting his head he let his ears flick around catching sounds with his catlike hearing. He rather liked his powers actually, it helped him hide his ears and tail while in public. So, with that in mind Dolph continued his search for the elusive Gambit. Dolph eventually found the grown Cajun making his way through the streets of Bayville on his way towards Charles Xavier's manor. Dolph didn't really want to know why the Cajun was going there; all he wanted was to fulfill the task Bella gave him. Casting out his invisibility powers, Dolph used all the skill he honed to hunt vampires in stalking the unsuspecting Gambit. Dolph easily took a high ground, tracking Gambit from the roof tops of nearby buildings. Dolph used this tactic because of two things: One, no one ever thinks of looking up for attackers. Two, part of Dolph's mutation was how catlike he truly was, so his reflexes and strengths were on par if not better than a leopard in this area.

When Gambit had unwittingly walked down an alleyway, Dolph struck. The catlike Englishman was soon standing over the unconscious form of the Cajun. "Very sorry Mr. LeBeau but my employer needs a sample of your DNA. I do hope you don't mind giving a bit of blood for her cause, hm?" Dolph asked the unconscious young man with a Cheshire Cat grin. "Don't fret; this will not hurt a bit. Although I cannot say the same thing about the headache you will have once you wake up. Again I am very sorry but having you unconscious only makes this easier for everyone." Dolph continued before pulling out a syringe. It didn't take him long to get a sample of the other mutant's blood. As a thank you, Dolph made extra sure Gambit would be out of sight should anyone happen by while the young man was still unconscious. The deed done, Dolph made his way back to Bella's hideout, making extra sure no one saw him on his way.

When Dolph got back to the house he was greeted by the sight of an annoyed Bella holding Grant by his ankle. Grant was dangling upside down grinning sheepishly at his adopted mother and off to the side Dante was laughing like a mad man. "Bertram Guerrant Leroux Swan." Bella hissed threateningly.

"But mère, I said I was sorry." Grant said nervously.

"Sorry won't fix a five hundred dollar washing machine. What possessed you to put a charged bouncy ball in with your laundry?" Bella snarled at the poor boy.

"I didn't mean it mère, honestly. It just sort of happened." Grant said before he started to fall to the ground head first. Bella had let go of the boy's leg and was now pulling at her hair roaring at the ceiling in anger and frustration. Grant didn't actually land on his head, his reflexes let him land on his hands and feet, but he did have the presence of mind to scramble behind the first available cover. His chosen shield just happened to be Dolph, who politely cleared his throat.

"WHAT?" Bella yelled before blinking at Dolph who simply took the angry outburst in stride. Really by now every one of Bella's friends was used to her anger prone ways. Sometimes Bella didn't know if that was a good thing or a very bad thing, but she also took their acceptance in stride as well.

"I managed to accomplish the task you sent me on Ms. Bella. Would you like me to put the blood sample in one of our mailing containers to be shipped out?" Dolph asked curiously while Bella took a deep breath and let it out.

"Sure Dolph that would be lovely." Bella said reigning in her anger. "Also a certain someone decided to blow up our washing machine. Can you have him clean it up while I go buy us a new one? Dante, you fool, get Grant's blood sample and mail out both to Conrad. I'm going to Sears." Bella said turning swiftly and a few minutes later left the house with the still unmoving trio of males in the living room.

"Oncle Dolph-" Grant began sweetly but the catlike mutant just gave him a look.

"Now, now Grant, your mother has issued her final orders. Who am I to go against them? Besides, if we want to eat tonight I will have to start on dinner soon. Heaven knows the rest of this lot is too lazy to cook something decent that would sustain something larger than a mouse." Dolph said with a smirk.

"Oncle Dante?" Grant asked the other man who grinned at him.

"Sorry chico but orders are orders, if you do the crime you must do the time. I would get mopping if I were you, senorita Bella hasn't heard from senorita Mad or senor Hiro in nearly a month. She is rather unpleasant when she is worried over one of her friends." Dante said taking the blood from Dolph who simply went into the kitchen to don his black apron. "Now let me see your arm and we can get this over with quickly. The less time this takes the more time you have to clean."

"I hate you both. Do you here that Oncle Dolph? I hate you!" Grant said a bit overly dramatic but with no true conviction behind his words. Grant had long since gotten used to cleaning up the messes he made that Bella didn't authorize. It didn't mean he didn't try to get out of them when he could, just when his cute tactics didn't work he easily accepted his punishment. Really, he had simply wondered what would happen if he charged his bouncy ball and stuck it into his load of old clothes that Bella had been meaning to send to charity. Luckily the only casualties, outside of the washer itself, were a pair of jeans and a sock. Though the incident proved one thing true, Grant would never do his laundry with explosives again, or at least not with his mother's washer.

Bella returned home with the new washer being delivered the next day. She was pleased to see Grant had cleaned up his mess, Dante had mailed the blood samples to Conrad, and Dolph had started on dinner. In truth Dolph was more or less the butler of the group. If Bella was the caretaker and provider, Dolph would fill all the other necessary roles outside of Mechanic and Doctor. Dante knew a lot more about medicine and such to be a qualified physician while Hiro could fix anything that had mechanical parts. As a group they were all very well balanced out but sometimes they stuck it out on their own. The prime example was the year stint they all did solo, if one over looked the fact that Bella and Grant were traveling together.

The rest of the time spent waiting on Conrad's reply was time spent lazily compared to what the group was normally used to. Grant continued his home schooling, Dante was working on a new research project, Dolph busied himself with keeping everything in the house clean and running smoothly, and Bella worked on her book. The quiet the break from constantly hunting vampires and out running HYDRA was something the group really needed. None of them said it but they were all starting to fray at the edges slightly from the past five years of constantly moving. However, it would have been much better if Madison and Hiro were also with them, that way they wouldn't have to worry over their other friends.

It was when the group had sat down for lunch one nice Saturday that Bella's cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Hey Bella! It's me Conrad; I got those test results you wanted finished. Sorry it took a bit longer than normal, but that idea you gave me back in London has been proving to be slightly fruitful, so I was a bit focused on my research." Conrad said on the other line.

"Don't worry about it Conrad, here let me put you on speaker phone." Bella said pressing the right button. "Can you hear me still?"

"Yep, you're coming in loud and clear. Now I did a paternal test first since its rather straight forward and a more common test done when searching out matches. The paternal test turned out negative, so I did a maternal test. This one is still somewhat common but it takes a bit longer to extract the right DNA and such to get a match. However, I did get a positive result and yes I double checked it several times. Meaning, since I know Grant's looking very confused at the phone right now, Grant and Gambit have the same mother but different fathers. I took the liberty of asking Felix to do a background check to find out Grant's mother, his birth mother since we know from when he was adopted the woman he was living with was in fact his godmother. He will call as soon as he finds some results." Conrad said happily over the phone.

"Great, thank you so much Conrad. Is anything new and exciting happening in your end of the world?" Bella asked while Grant looked stunned. Dolph and Dante shared a smile before looking at the shocked eleven-year-old.

"Outside of my research nothing much, I'll keep you posted if I hear anything though. Andy sends her love by the way; she was going to send cookies but figured the mailman would just eat them before you got them. In any case I have to let you go, my computer is telling me that my latest test has just completed and I've been anticipating the results." Conrad said getting a chuckle from Bella.

"Later Conrad, we'll talk to you soon." Bella said before hanging up the phone. "Well kiddo looks like you have an older half brother running around Bayville."

"And he looks like me. Can I meet him?" Grant asked looking up at Bella who seemed to be weighing her options.

"I don't know kiddo, let me think about it. I don't want you winding up in some weird situation because he finds out about you. Unless of course you'd rather be with him if it comes down to it." Bella said getting a half glare from Grant.

"Mère he may be my brother by blood but you and your friends are my family." Grant said stubbornly getting a chuckle from Bella while Dante messed up Grant's hair.

"No worries chico, we understand wholeheartedly." Dante said with a smirk.

"Yes, we are most pleased that you see us as family." Dolph said with a smile. "Now why don't we get back to eating before it gets cold?"

"Oui, wouldn't want to waste your good cooking would we oncle Dolph?" Grant asked teasingly getting a few laughs from his family. Although a part of him was still stunned that he had an older half brother out there in the world. He just hoped what his uncle Felix found was just as interesting.

In the end when Felix called he just confirmed what they already knew. Grant and Gambit had the same mother but different fathers. Felix however also found that Grant's mother died shortly after giving birth to him due to a drug overdose. Felix said it would take a bit longer to find Grant's father, but Grant didn't mind.

Bella was a bit miffed when Felix also gave them some information he found when hacking into Dr. G's computer system. Dr. G seemed to be getting much better at gathering information since she did have a lot of information about Grant; she even gave him a codename for when she finally captured him. Bella didn't like it at all, but at least Grant found his codename to be rather cool, he even asked if he was going to be called it in the coded emails Bella and Felix sent each other. Dante and Dolph however had a long debate about whether or not Grant's codename, Darkshield, was more a villain type codename or a superhero type codename. So far all votes leaned towards it being a super villain.

Truthfully Grant now felt he gained a level in the group since now he had a codename just like the rest of the adults. Bella made Coyote her own, Madison was called Silverpool even by mutants, Dante gained the name Viento, Dolph was affectionately given the name Cheshire, and Hiro was referred to as Raiu. Even Felix had a codename thanks to Dr. G, his being Bluecurrent. Amanda had also started to be called Miracle and now the only one without an obvious codename in the group was Renee and Conrad. Although everyone referred to Renee as Mom so it could be argued that had become her codename for the group. So in a way Grant felt like he belonged even more now that he had a codename of his own rather than just being referred to as Kid, it even sounded better.

All of that aside, Bella was content with what she had found out about Grant's past and about what Felix found out about Dr. G's whereabouts and activities. Now all Bella worried about was hearing from Madison and Hiro. Bella didn't like it when she didn't get periodic updates from her friends. She knew they were alright but it would be much better if she had conformation of that. She however knew it would be pointless to pack up everyone to go looking for the two mutants. So she decided to finish her book and decide on a way to keep better track of her friends. She wouldn't fool herself into thinking they were safe, not with at the very least Dr. G running around unaccounted for. She didn't even want to get started on any other enemies they may have gotten over the years. Nope, she was very content in her paranoia that was for sure.

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YAY!! Again not much happening plot wise but I'm sure you know by now I tend to spend a bit of time on simply character building as well. I think it's great since it helps give characters more of a depth instead of simply main character introduced, main character does main action, main character is seen at the conclusion of the story. Right, don't mind me I'm being a bit annoyed today but that's alright we all have offdays I'm sure. So right focusing on the positive, we learn more about Dolph since he didn't get much of a background story when he was introduced, and we get to learn more about Grant. Don't worry, I will be adding a bit more to the plot soon since even I'm getting tired of the group just idling at Bayville. So as a teaser I'm simply going to say we will be hearing from Mad very shortly.

REVIEW!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Sorry it took so long up dating this time. I've been meaning to sit down and write but haven't found the time. At the moment my family, extended and otherwise, is staying at my house and it's hard to have access to a computer. Luckily I've found the time but not as much as I'd like to edit so there will probably be a few mistakes here and there especially at the end. I don't know when the next chapter will be up since my family is getting ready to move and the computer is on a time limit. I'll try to get another chapter up but between packing, out of town relatives, and general life it might be difficult to do so, just be patient is all I can say. Anyway, I'd like to thank all of you who have reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing you don't recognize as mine, that should be obvious by now.

**ENJOY!**

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"Mère, why exactly are we here again?" Grant asked as he sat on the floor looking bored.

"Dante and Dolph just asked me to pick up some parts. We are not staying here long, besides you can always go look at those build your own robot kits. Who knows? You might actually like one." Bella said looking at a bunch of wires and other electronic parts. The two of them were currently at the mall and had been picking up some things when Bella remembered they had to go to Radio Shack for a few items.

"But mère, you know I don't necessarily like robots. Can I go to Game Stop? It's right over there across the hall." Grant said looking at the video game store. "I've been good and I haven't had a new game in ages. Besides, we have that Xbox 360 but no games for it."

"Very well, but don't get into any trouble." Bella said with a sigh.

"Oui mère, I will be on my utmost best behavior." Grant said with a large grin before taking off to find a few new video games he hadn't yet purchased. Bella sighed wondering not for the first time if video games and boys were like purses and girls. She honestly had yet to meet someone of the male persuasion that didn't own a gaming council or were overly obsessed with sports. She could even recall Jacob had been quite taken with video games when they were younger.

Shaking her head Bella turned back to her task of locating all the electronic components on the list Dolph gave her. She made a mental note that her and Grant would also have to stop at the grocery store before heading back to the house. Just as she got the last of her items and was about to go to the register to purchase them her phone rang. "Hello?" She answered after fishing the phone from out of her coat pocket.

"Bells! I have a question, you know how they say that a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square? Why is that?" An exuberant voice said on the other end making Bella grin happily.

"It's because they're both quadrilaterals Mad, only a square has all equal sides whereas the rectangle can only have its parallel sides being equal to one another." Bella explained the best she could without it sounding too technical.

"See I was right you bastard, nah!" Bella heard faintly on the other end, obviously Mad was talking to someone near her. "Anyway, why did I really call? Oh! Right! Sorry, my mind is just getting back into the groove after an erroneous conversation with Hiro over squares and rectangles. Not that it wasn't educational but by the time we both reached a conclusion my thought process had been muddled."

"Um Mad, not that I don't like to hear your rambling but why did you call? I'm sort of standing in Radio Shack so I probably won't be able to have a long drawn out conversation." Bella interrupted wondering if Mad had gotten her hands on sugar again.

"Well it's like this, you remember a far off long time ago when I told you that I have a stalker here? Guy's name is Daken and all, well he crashed a party I was at to try and kill me. So Hiro and I decided it's about time we split Asia. In any case the two of us are going to be showing up at your doorstep in a week. It would have been sooner but there's a small little something involving a friend I have here that needs to be taken care of. Don't worry it's nothing illegal or anything; I was simply invited to her High School graduation so I feel obligated to attend. I'm sure you understand."

"Course I do, although Dante and Dolph will be pleased to hear you two are on your way. Grant will be happy as well, I don't know if it's because I'm going to let him buy a video game or you showing up though." Bella said with a slight smirk.

"Ah, you wound me Bells, you know the little disaster loves me. You're just jealous I'm better liked than you are." Mad said in a teasing tone.

"Yea, yea, you got your own stalker and everything." Bella said with a snort.

"See it just proves I'm the best and you're just one of the rest."

"Whatever you say Mad, whatever you say. Is that all or do you have any more ground breaking news to tell me?" Bella asked as she made her way to the cash register.

"Nah, nothing important comes to mind, I could go on about my stalker and how outside his odd social behavior reminds me strikingly similar to a male Japanese version of you. Although he's only half Japanese, I found that out the other day. He's also got these odd bone-like claws that come out of his knuckles, well two out of his knuckles a third comes from the underside of his wrist. Scared the crap out of me the first time but I've grown used to it. I also could go on about this cute Japanese girl Hiro's been snooping around."

"I do not snoop!" A voice off in the background called in irritated Japanese making Bella smile.

"Oh, you so do snoop, or more like sniff. I swear you circled the poor girl at least three times after meeting her. Honestly I don't really care what you do, or who you do, in your free time but try to be more discrete about it." Mad called back away from the phone. "Grumble all you like Hiro-chan but you know I'm right."

"Mad, I have to go. I'll see you two at the end of the week." Bella said with a chuckle just hearing the oncoming fight between her two friends.

"Yep, love you lots and tell the others I send my love as well. Hiro says you'll be in his dreams and- ACK!"

Bella smiled she ended the call and put away her phone. From how the call ended she had no doubt Mad was currently dealing with a very annoyed Hiro. As Bella finished paying for her purchases she made a mental note to call Felix later. She was slightly worried about Madison's stalker; she had to make sure that Daken wouldn't be too much of a threat to her friend. Putting those thoughts aside she turned to collect her wayward son, who from the looks of it was trying to buy the whole game store. Sighing she went to take charge before Grant spent all his money on video games…again.

An hour later, after a long drawn out discussion about video games and their value, Bella and Grant pulled into the parking lot of the local grocery store. The two went in to gather up the last things on their list before they went home. The trip was as uneventful as ever up until they made it to the ice cream section. "Mère can we have mint chocolate chip?" Grant asked pointing at the ice cream he wanted.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Bella said after a minute of thought. Grant gave a small cheer as he opened up the cooler and started to fish out his chosen ice cream. Meanwhile, Bella was contemplating if she wanted Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's, before suddenly an argument erupted behind both mutants. Quickly she grabbed two of her favorite flavors from both brands and turned around. As she expected from the almost growling argument, there stood Sabertooth and Wolverine. "Either you two absolutely hate each other or you're absolutely infatuated with one another." She commented with her hands on her hips. Grant stood nearby snickering.

"What?" Both men growled at her and she fought not to growl in return.

"Well it seems whenever I see you two you're arguing like an old couple." Bella said with the slightest of smirks on her lips. Oh, after the whole book signing incident a month ago she had seen both men from afar on a few occasions. The two were usually at each other's throats or at the very least glaring hatefully at one another. She wondered how their relationship would differ if they knew their true history together. She had a feeling whatever happened to Logan's memories also happened to Sabertooth but not in quite a dramatic fashion.

"We don't argue like an old couple." Logan snarled lightly with a frown.

"Okay fine, you don't argue like an old couple, at the very least you act like jealous over baring brothers." Bella amended not wanting to think how wrong it would be if the two of them actually were a couple.

"Whatever, did you want something?" Sabertooth nearly snarled only for Bella to beam at him and hold up two cartons of ice cream.

"Pick one, I can't seem to decide myself and I love both of them so I might as well get a second opinion since your there." Bella said trying not to laugh hysterically at their incredulous faces. Grant wasn't as forgiving and was currently leaning against her cart holding his sides as he laughed at them.

"Why not buy both if you like them both?" Logan asked making Bella roll her eyes at him.

"Because, I'm only going to buy one; that should be obvious, unless you're a blonde like him." Bella said casually motioning to Sabertooth who was giving her with completely blank look on his face suggesting he had no idea what was going on. Although she figured that could just be his thinking face or something.

"Well I don't know, just pick one." Logan said while Sabertooth looked closer at the selections.

Bella let out a put upon sigh. "Honestly, if it were that easy I would. But it's not, it's hard to decide which one I want and my sweet tooth isn't offering an opinion. Have you ever had to decide which sweet you wanted more?"

"I don't eat a lot of sweet food." Logan said with a shrug as both ignored Sabertooth sniffing the containers.

"So I can gather. You strike me as someone who has a healthy life style outside your vices which are probably the common ones of smoking and drinking alcohol. You really do seem like the type of guy that would be up for a few bears or a night at a bar." Bella said looking him up and down. "Definitely, you got the whole biker thing going for you."

"So says the woman who earns her money by exercising her imagination. I'm actually surprised to admit you're right, though as far as healthy lifestyle goes I'm more of a school gym teacher than a ruffian." Logan said with a snort.

"Now that… I did not see coming." Bella conceded before turning to Sabertooth. "Verdict?"

"Ben & Jerry's." Sabertooth said pointing to the desired ice cream.

"Okay, thank you." Bella said putting the chosen container into her cart. Grant was now as composed as he was going to get and waiting to see what his mother was up to. "If you don't mind me asking, are you a mutant by chance?"

"How did you know?" Sabertooth nearly growled glaring at her but she was unaffected by it.

"Well like him you strike me as a biker but no one outside of the WWE has that sort of look about them. Kind of like a big ass kitten if you ask me." Bella said with a slight smirk.

"Kitten?" Sabertooth roared making Logan chuckle.

"Oh and don't think I don't suspect you as well. You're not quite a kitten but more along the lines of a puppy." Bella said to Logan who stopped chuckling.

"Puppy?" His reaction was less out of anger and more out of surprise, the affect though was priceless. Both of them were gaping at her with nearly identical looks that it was hard not to say they weren't related in some way.

"Now that I think about it, it does make some sense. You two definitely fight like cats and dogs so it would only be natural for a puppy and kitten to go at it whenever they cross paths." Bella mused mentally laughing as both now glared at her. She gave Grant a small signal and he gave the briefest of nods before starting to pull the cart away unnoticed.

"I am not a puppy!"

"I am not a kitten!" Both yelled simultaneously at her and she pretended to jump in surprise while flinging the nearly forgotten carton of Haagen-Dazs still in her hand down the aisle. She didn't even have to look to know she hit her mark since a female shriek came from one end of the aisle. All three turned to find Rogue currently sprawled out on top of Remy. Bella couldn't have planned that better if she had forewarning. She had known Rogue was trying to get away from Remy who was flirting with her and both were on their way towards the trio. She hadn't anticipated Rogue actually ending up sprawled on top of the Cajun and their skin touching. In a second Rogue was on her feet as if someone had electrocuted her and turned a glare in their direction.

"He did it." Bella said pointing to Sabertooth who was suddenly facing Rogue's anger at getting nailed in the face with an ice cream carton. While Logan was trying to stop Rogue who now had Gambit's powers and was trying to kill Sabertooth, Bella slipped away unnoticed to join Grant who was already halfway across the store. "How about we head home kiddo? If we wait any longer the store might just get destroyed."

"Oui mère." Grant said with a small grin knowing exactly what had happen in the aisle as he was leaving. After checking out the two made it to the car to put away their groceries, it was then and only then something seemed to have exploded in the grocery store.

"So what exactly did you charge?" Bella asked knowing the Acolytes and X-men in the ice cream aisle were probably taken by surprise from the explosion.

"The frozen asparagus." Grant answered dutifully.

"Good boy." Bella said having never really liked asparagus personally something she shared in common with her adopted son.

The days leading up to Madison and Hiro arriving were interesting. They had to go around the house Mad proofing everything so they'd have a house if she got coffee or sugar. Once all the preparations were finished they hung around the house mostly. Grant was engrossed in his video games, Dolph was looking for new recipes he could try, Dante was lazing around enjoying his down time, and Bella was now on the editing phase of her book. So on a quite Sunday the house piece was shattered by the ringing of the doorbell. Bella and Dolph were the only ones up that early in the morning so Bella went to get it while Dolph continued cooking breakfast.

As soon as Bella opened the door she was tackled to the floor by an over enthusiastic silver puddle. "BELLS!" The puddle yelled while Bella was struggling to get out of it.

"Damn it Mad! Pull yourself together and don't soak into my clothes, I actually like these." Bella said trying to push her liquefied friend off of her.

"But I missed you horribly. Hiro is complete dullsville to be around all the time. I don't get the same stimulating conversations with him that I do with you. We really need to work on his social skills." Madison said pulling herself together in Bella's lap. Bella noted that Madison hadn't changed all that much since the last time they were together, they were still around the same height, Madison's pale blonde hair was still in an ankle length braid, her husky blue eyes were still dancing with excitement, and she was still more inclined to wearing white and lots of silver jewelry than anything else. "Hugs!" Madison insisted giving her friend a strong bear hug which Bella returned with a sigh.

"Good, now that this touchy feely moment is over, OFF!" Bella said getting a snicker from Madison who jumped up and offered the brunette a hand. Really Bella wondered if it was a good idea to send Madison off with Hiro in the first place, it seems without a social spring board for the blonde to bounce off of she had gotten just a bit more clingy and hyper. Suddenly as the thought about Hiro struck her she turned to look at the last of their group of vampire hunters.

"Bella-san, it is nice to see you are well." Hiromitsu Choukichi said with a slight bow. The nineteen-year-old was the second youngest of the group if one were to include Grant, and he still had a bit of a teenager air about him. His black hair was long enough to tie into a small ponytail to keep out of his face and his dark brown eyes looked black outside of the right lighting. He was a rather fit individual standing at least as tall as Dolph and usually dressed in Asian style clothes or simple dress shirts and black slacks. As usual his face was a blank mask of cold indifference but Bella could tell he was happy to see her.

They had picked up Hiro just before everyone split up; at the time the seventeen year old was working as a freelance mercenary for two years after his adopted father died. He had happened upon the group as they were taking care of a coven sent to kill them and became intrigued with the existence of vampires. He decided to tag along and soon couldn't think of being anywhere else since the group truly became his second family. He also was a great asset to the group since his adopted father made sure he was well versed in a few styles of martial arts, so he easily helped them with their fighting techniques. But most of all he was one of the few that didn't truly mind watching Grant when Bella wanted to go out since both of the younger boys were practically brothers. Madison figured it was because Hiro couldn't legally go out and party with the rest of them in some of the countries they had gone to and had bonded with the young Cajun.

"It's great to see you both as well. Now come one inside, Dante and Grant should be awake now and we were just going to have breakfast." Bella said ushering her two friends in.

"YES! Dolph's cooking, oh how I missed thee!" Madison said scrambling off towards the kitchen while Bella smiled and Hiro followed the two.

"Tante Mad! Oncle Hiro!" Grant said racing down the stairs happily now fully awake.

"Grant-kun." Hiro greeted with a small smile as the eleven-year-old latched onto him in a bear hug. As soon as Grant let go the flood gates opened and he was rattling off questions like there was no tomorrow. The trio got to the kitchen where Madison got the same greeting from Grant while Hiro and Dolph exchanged greeting nods. It wasn't long after that that Dante teleported down and greeted both of the new comers. Breakfast was filled with idle chatter as the group filled the two in on the situation around Bayville.

"Well I think we should leave soon if we don't want to get anymore caught up with the mutant situation here than we already are. From what you said Bells, Wolverine and Sabertooth might start to be getting suspicious of you." Madison said getting agreeing nods all around.

"Plus now that we're all together we can once again focus on our main goal, finding the Cullens." Dolph put in calmly.

"Si senor Dolph, it is safe to say that the Cullens have not left the North Americas from what we have gathered." Dante said thoughtfully.

"True, what's the situation in Asia?" Bella asked curiously.

"Whatever covens we didn't kill all fled towards Europe by the time we left. They don't seem like they will be returning to the area anytime soon either." Madison said getting a nod from Bella.

"For now at least we should wait on moving, we aren't in any immediate danger and it will give us some time to rest." Bella said thoughtfully. "I asked Felix to check some things and I don't really want to go cross country before the results are back."

"That should work, besides it gives Hiro and me some time to catch up on sleep. I swear if it wasn't a vampire problem it was a mutant one, you'd be surprised how many actual mutants are in Asia and Australia." Madison said while rolling her eyes.

"It's not that surprising Ms. Mad. Asia, especially China, has a very large human population and thus a lot of potential candidates for mutations." Dolph said getting a nod from Madison.

"In any case, let's just enjoy this down time we have while we have it." Bella said getting silent but happy agreements all around. The group really needed some down time to feel human again, it was surprising how much of their humanity they lost from hunting vampires. They all had to rely on their instincts to help them and not think for more than a few seconds about any morals they have about killing humanoid monsters. It would do them all good; now that they were all together and not stressed about one another's health, to simply relax for a while. However Bella knew that now Mad and Hiro were once again with the group it was time to truly end their five year hunt soon. She was done playing games with the Cullens, she was going to get her answers and be done with this mess if it was the last thing she ever did.

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YAY! The gang is finally all together and it won't be long before the plot starts to take off. Bella has shown a bit of her devious side this time around and Grant got to blow something up. Not much else to say this time around and sorry if the ending bit seems a bit rushed but again I'm on some pretty bad time crunches for the computer. I'll try not to let it effect my quality but no guaranties, in the mean time:

REVIEW!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary**: In first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Hey! I managed to get this chapter done rather easily, however my internet is down. Right now I'm out paying bills and ducked into the library to use a computer. I don't know when I'll get the next chapter up. It shouldn't take too long, I have it mostly typed up and in the editing process. I just hope my internet provider guy can figure out why my internet isn't working. ANYWAY I woud like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**ENJOY!**

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"Damn it you motherfucking piece of shit!" Bella yelled at her computer before slamming her head against the kitchen table with a groan. "I hate you." She growled at the screen ignoring the giggle across the table from Madison.

"What is the problem this time?" Madison asked having come into the kitchen just as Bella began her rant. It had been two weeks now that Mad and Hiro were in Bayville, for the most part they were a quiet two weeks. Outside of an explosion or two and a few brawls, it was as if the group was a normal group of misfits living together.

"Have I told you how much I hate editing?" Bella asked into the table knowing her friend would hear her.

"Plenty of times my dear sister, I remember that time during your third book were you picked up a desk and threw it out our hotel window in frustration." Madison said with a fond smile. She had to hand it to the brunette woman, Bella was a great writer but she lacked patients with certain aspects of the art of literature.

"Perhaps you should take a break for today Ms. Bella? You are ahead of schedule and you can afford a pause from your book." Dolph said as he looked up from the book he had been reading as he lounged on the kitchen windowsill.

"Perhaps Dolph, yea, I think I need a break and a stiff drink." Bella said sitting up in her chair with a sigh.

"But it's not five yet." Madison said looking up at the clock that read it was only four in the afternoon.

"Who says I can only drink after five? Ever heard of that song? It's five o'clock somewhere or something like that?" Bella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well it sure isn't five o'clock here so you're stuck." A voice on the computer said making Bella jump in surprise before looking at the screen.

"Fucking hell Felix! Don't do that! What do you want?" Bella asked once her heart rate went back to normal. She didn't expect to see her tech savvy friend to be on her computer screen let alone talking to her.

"Well for one I have that information you wanted and two I have some very interesting news I think you will like to hear." Felix said with a mysterious smile. "I suggest you go get the rest of the guys."

"You heard the man Mad." Bella said looking up at her silver haired friend who saluted her and took off threw the house. It didn't take long for the boys to show up in the kitchen and they all crowded around the computer to see Felix. "So what's up Felix?"

"Well for starters I did as an extensive background check on Daken as I could. I'm sorry to say I haven't gotten much that Mad hasn't already figured out. He was born sometime around the Second World War in Japan to an American soldier and a Japanese woman. From what I can gather his mother didn't make it through the delivery and he was left on the doorstep of a very prominent Japanese family that took him in. However his childhood wasn't idea, he got his name because the servants used to call him it. Anyway he's been working as a mercenary and assassin. His powers are extensive healing; those bone spikes that are now coated with the metal from a katana, heightened senses, and pheromone manipulation. Again they are powers that are similar to you Bella as well as Sabertooth and Wolverine. Outside of that there isn't much to go on, I'll try some of the underground organizations but it'll probably take me a few more months until I have anything solid. As for his threat level, when compared to Mad's mutation he probably is on equal footing with her but isn't much of a health hazard to her. But he has proven to be quite the stubborn bastard when he wants something or someone so be on the lookout for him in Bayville. I doubt he has given up the chase just yet." Felix said making Mad groan into her hand.

"Thanks for the heads up Felix." Madison said not wanting to deal with her stalker but knowing a confrontation would be inevitable eventually.

"So senor Felix what is the rest of the news you wanted to give us?" Dante asked curiously as he patted Madison on the back.

"There has been activity at the Cullen's house in Forks Washington." Felix answered making the group freeze. "I don't know how many members of the coven have returned but I do know where they came from. It seems they have been staying with an isolated vegetarian coven up in Alaska for some time. I don't think Edward is in Forks at this time but there is no information stating that he isn't. I would have more information but things on my end have been getting bogged down again so I can't provide much."

"That's fine, how long do you think they will stay in the area?" Bella asked after taking a calming breath.

"From the looks of it no more than a few weeks or so." Felix said with a frown. "If you want to catch them the window of opportunity is quite small but still present."

"I understand, we'll talk it over and send Conrad and you the details once we've decided what we are going to do." Bella said before Felix nodded and the webcam screen disappeared. "So guys what should we do?"

"It's your call oh fearless leader." Madison said still bemoaning the fact that her stalker was probably close or already in Bayville now.

"I'm asking you guys to get second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth opinions." Bella said with a shrug. "I personally don't want to miss this opportunity but we have very little information to go on. I don't like going into a situation blind. There is still the chance that the coven in Alaska could come down to aid the Cullens should our fight with them not come to a quick conclusion. Furthermore my goal is simply revenge against Edward; the other members mean little to me other than obstacles in my way."

"I believe we should head to Seattle before making our way to Forks. There we can acquire more information on the situation." Hiro said blankly.

"I agree with Mr. Hiro, we also have a safe house in Seattle that will suit our needs perfectly. We should not forget that HYDRA has a base in that area. Though the chances of Dr. G being there are slim, we should take it into account regardless." Dolph said with a nod.

"Si, there are many factors we still need to consider. However, it will allow us the best options should we need to split our forces. It will help us cover our bases and also eliminate the threat of the Alaskan coven from interfering." Dante said while Bella considered it.

"You two want to add anything?" Bella asked Grant and Madison.

"Not really, they pretty much covered all the things I was worried about." Madison said before turning to Grant.

"I'm fine with that plan." Grant said with a shrug.

"Very well, get ready to go to Seattle guys. Mad would you go to the mall to pick up a few things from the computer place there. Dolph has the list." Bella said turning to her computer to start preparations for their move.

Dolph instantly was dictating the necessary things they needed to do to leave. He made sure to organize their food so they wouldn't leave anything perishable in the house. He also got things ready for them to pack up everything they weren't leaving behind. Dante went with Madison to pick up the things they would need. In the mean time Hiro and Grant had to help Dolph with everything around the house while Bella worked out how they were getting to Seattle in the first place. A few calls later, Bella got them a private plane to take them to Seattle and told Conrad what was up. Conrad assured her that he would have the safe house ready for their arrival and would be patiently waiting the plane's landing. Bella was a bit uneasy because she swore she heard some mysterious growling sounds in the background as she talked to Conrad but let it go. The only snag in their day was when Madison and Dante got back; apparently a fight broke out between Madison and a few other mutants. Part of the mall was leveled in the process but the duo had all the supplies and was more than willing to lay low until they left. All Bella got out of her two friends was that Madison's Japanese stalker started it all. Bella was pleased they were leaving now, especially since Daken drew the attention of the mutants to Madison.

So between her annoyance with her book and just the day's general chaos Bella decided to go out to the bar. She really did need a drink or ten now that things had kicked right back into high gear after a relatively slow down time. Forgoing her normal Susan Meadows look of stiff up-dos, conservative fashionable clothes, warm brown eyes, and normal teeth, Bella was decked out in her Coyote outfit. Her hair was down and left wild, her eyes shined their natural amber; her fangs gleamed when she smiled, and she wore her favorite leather vest, form fitting jeans, boots, and brown leather coat. She told her friends she was going out for a few drinks and got on her Harley before taking off to a slightly rundown bar in a bit shadier part of Bayville. She had gone to this bar a few times before and knew the owner didn't mind mutants just so long as they kept their fights outside.

She was on her seventh beer of the night and well into her pack of cigarettes when she felt someone step up behind her. She ignored the presence she felt at her back, she was never bothered by the regulars even if she was perhaps a rather good looking female all alone among them. She figured it was someone who wasn't from around the area or someone who wanted to start something. Neither option she particularly liked, so she looked up at the mirror behind the bar she was sitting at to see who was invading her personal space. Her amber eyes met dark eyes in the mirror. She noted the man standing behind her was a few heads taller than her, fit and muscular with dark hair cut in a weird Mohawk style, tattoos all over his body, and a tan from spending a lot of time in the sun. He wore a leather jacket, some black pants with a black leather belt, and boots only. Finally, she could see the Japanese heritage he had as plain as day.

"Daken." She hissed as she exhaled a puff of smoke noticing the smirk forming on his lips.

"Hai, you must be Coyote then. Where's Silverpool?" Daken asked not showing the surprise he had at actually finding his quarry's associate. He had only heard small snippets of information surrounding this female mutant. Like her friend, Coyote was a notoriously hard person to track down, often disappearing as if she was never there. Daken heard a few mutants speculate that the two were mere phantoms but he never believed in ghosts. When he first ran into Silverpool and her partner Raiu he had been curious, after the two gave him the slip several more times than he would have liked they became a challenge. Now he was facing perhaps an even more elusive mutant and he couldn't help anticipate her next move. The fact that she knew who he was only furthered his belief Silverpool and Raiu were somehow connected to this woman.

"I haven't seen her since the incident at the mall." Bella lied easily, masking her scent to hide the fact. She didn't show it but she was trying not to panic a little. Not only was Daken standing behind her, Sabertooth and Wolverine were also in the bar watching them. She had noticed the two older mutants when she came in but ignored them in favor of the bar. It didn't escape her notice they were stealing curious glances at her though. She had been careful to hide her scent from them but she knew things could get real ugly real fast now. "I heard she gave you the slip."

"Hn, I would have had her if those teenage superheroes hadn't intervened." He spat annoyed that a group of kids got in the way of him and his quarry.

"Kids these days." She said neither agreeing nor disagreeing with him. Getting a new bottle of beer she made a show of using her fangs to pop the top off. It was a subtle threat on her part that Daken seemed to notice. The man relaxed a bit and sat down on the stool next to her. He didn't want a fight just yet, he wanted information.

"I hear you two have worked together before." He said simply and to anyone else it would be seen as a casual opening for a conversation.

"We have." Bella answered calmly drinking.

"So what do you know about her?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

"She's a half insane mutant that can turn into a puddle of strong non-magnetic metal that she can manipulate at will." Bella answered dryly laughing internally when he glared at her. She wasn't going to give up any information on her friend. However, she also was a bit apprehensive since she knew Wolverine and Sabertooth were in hearing range and listening in.

"What about her weaknesses?" He asked curiously getting a snort from Bella.

"If you can find those send me a memo, I'd love to have a way to control her when she shows up to annoy me." She answered inwardly pleased that he was getting nowhere with this conversation. She could tell he was easily getting annoyed with her lack of cooperation as well. So she downed the last of her beer and stood up to leave. She had already paid for the alcohol and she saw no reason to stick around. Without a backwards glance she slipped into the crowed of bikers coming into the bar and disappeared out of the door.

As she walked down the road she didn't let her guard down. She knew she had a ticked off Daken following her and following him was Wolverine and Sabertooth. She was contemplating her options when her instincts had her moving. Her arm came up as she turned swiftly blocking and redirecting the three nasty looking claw-like spikes aimed at her back. Even without her really thinking about it, her free hand had its armor out and her claws were tearing through Daken's chest, lung, and back in a second. She glared at Daken's nearly shocked face as they stood there on sidewalk in the night. She idly wondered how fast his heightened healing was; she knew how much a pain it was to have a lung regenerating itself, don't even get her started on the ribs of the equation. She didn't even flinch when he coughed up some blood onto her boots.

"Don't you know it's rude to attack someone from behind, especially a woman?" She taunted with a smirk her fangs gleaming in the moonlight. As he looked at her still stunned she used the hand not sticking straight through him to pull him towards her a little so she could ram her knee between his legs. To his credit he only grunted in pain as she felt his pelvis break from the force she used. A second later she was ripping her hand from his chest unceremoniously, ignoring the spray of blood from her claw accidently nicking an artery, she used her bloody claw to backhand him. His head snapped to the side and he ended up hitting a nearby brick wall with incredible force. She knew he wasn't dead but he would have one hell of a headache when he woke up.

She only paused a second to make sure he was indeed healing from his injuries before she took off into the night and back to her Harley. She knew Wolverine and Sabertooth would be to Daken's aid shortly and she needed to get the hell out of there. She didn't know how she would stack up in a fight against the two older mutants. She was used to hunting vampires and only rarely fought with other mutants. She didn't know how she would do if two experienced mutants with nearly identical powers to her attacked. She only got the jump on Daken because she had taken him by surprise and used her obviously superior speed and dexterity to her advantage. From what she saw, his healing factor was nearly as fast as hers so he would be up, fully healed, and pissed off by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Too bad for him, she and her gang would be out of town by that time.

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YAY! Bella is a tad bit testy it seems, maybe she's as annoyed with my progress in this story as I am. Anyway, Daken got owned that was for sure. For those of you who don't know who he is, he's an old comic character and from what I remember was never featured in any of the animated shows. If he was than I'm sorry for my lack of the knoweldge, anyway more light as to who he is will come very shortly. I also believe I gave him a new loook but can't find any of my old comic things to tell you the truth. Well, Bella and the crew are just about gone from Bayville and there will be a about two more chapters or so before we see any of the Cullens. They are close but not that close, in the mean time:

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	12. Chapter 12

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: YES! My internet is back up, so here's the lastest update I have. The next chapter is written up but I still have to go through and edit the best I can. I'm trying to get as many chapters done as possible since I finally got a date for when I have to have all my stuff, computer included, packed up. That would be July 4, so if I'm lucky I can find time to finish off this story. It has about nineteen chapters so I don't know if I will be able to but I'll try my hardest. Anyway, I would like to thank all of those that have reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: I only own what I created the rest belongs to other people.

**ENJOY!**

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"Holy shit! Bells what happen to you?" Bella smiled at the greeting of her best friend as she walked into the house. "I thought you were only going out for a few drinks." Madison continued looking at all the blood splattered on her friend.

"Don't worry it's not mine." Bella said with a roll of her eyes.

"Now I'm even more worried." Dolph said with a frown getting a slight glare from Bella.

"He's not dead; I just had a slight run in with Mad's stalker Daken." Bella said slightly defensively only to receive a raised eyebrow from her friends and adopted son. "What? He attacked first; I just ended it and got the hell out of there."

"Exactly how did you end it senorita Bella?" Dante asked cautiously not really wanting to know what happened to the man if Bella was covered in blood. He asked anyway since it seemed the others were still in a state of shock. Not that it was abnormal to see one of their comrades with blood splatter on them; they just didn't think they'd see it while in Bayville.

"He attacked from behind, I blocked and struck back. I only rammed one of my claws through his chest, lung, and out his back. I followed it up with a knee in between his legs breaking his pelvis and a backhand into the building next to me. Nothing really major and he was already healing even before I was making my getaway." Bella said with a shrug getting sighs from her friends. None of them were surprised really but there was always some apprehension when they were faced with Bella's aggression. While she managed to reign in her anger since she first became a mutant, her savagery could still startle them time to time.

"I suggest you getting in the shower before it dries completely while I take care of your clothes Ms. Bella." Dolph said already itching to get the blood stains out off of the leather coat, vest, and her shoes. Oddly it seemed her jeans were spared this instance but he would still check for minute splatter anyway.

"Okay Dolph but could you get a sample, I can give it to Conrad when we show up tomorrow? Who knows he might get lucky and get a hit on something in that database of his?" Bella requested getting a nod from the feline mutant.

"Of course Ms. Bella." Dolph said as he ushered her up the stairs.

"Well let's get moving as well." Madison said to the others. "We have an early flight and we don't want Bella waking us up in a rush."

"Oui Tante Mad." Grant said with a yawn having had been on his way to bed anyway. Several goodnights, one shower, and an impromptu laundry cycle later, the whole house was sound asleep.

Early the next morning the group was in a slight rush as they finished the last minute things they needed to do. By midmorning the group was set and the house was locked down, they made it to the airport easily enough as well. As the afternoon approached a private jet left New York City bound for Seattle. Meanwhile back in Bayville a very disgruntled Daken woke up in the med lab of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Children. It wouldn't be much long after that the X-men and Acolytes would learn of a small group of highly trained combat specialized mutants. They would also learn that Daken was trying to track them down for his own pleasure, and that they were highly elusive; so elusive that even Cerebro couldn't find them.

As the jet landed in Seattle Bella was ready to get out of the plane and on solid ground. She didn't like the way airplanes messed with her senses. She by no means suffered from motion sickness but she could do without her sensitive hearing several thousand feet in the air and on a very noisy aircraft. She swore she would be able to hear the engines even through earplugs if she had any. The rest of her group was just as happy as she was to finally reach Seattle. Washington had been their base of operations for a while and it was nice to be back, even if there was a torrential rainstorm on the way. As they got off of the plane with their luggage they were greeted by a waiting minibus taxi.

After a ride through the city and the notorious rush hour, the group was stepping out in front of a nice but still quaint three story house in the residential area of the city. From the outside it was a simple house with an almost farm house design with white siding and green accents. The lawn was cut and it had a rather pleasant landscape. However, it showed nothing about the extensive security details on the inside. Most of those secret security details were hidden away however by a minimalistic but warm interior design. It really didn't take the group long to settle back into their once main base. Their bikes would be delivered the next day so for now they were simply stuck at the house. Luckily though, Conrad had stocked up the fridge so they really didn't need to go anywhere.

"Man, I don't think I'll ever get over the whole flying thing." Madison said flopping down on the black leather couch in the living room. "I miss the good old days when we stuck it out in the truck."

"Good old days? That was only five years ago Mad." Bella said shaking her head.

"Five years is a long time Bells, it's half a decade for crying out loud." Madison said with a pout.

"Whatever you say, Mad." Bella said shaking her head. "Dante!"

"Si senorita?" Dante asked as he appeared in the living room.

"If you're not busy can you take these blood samples to Conrad and tell him we're at the safe house?" Bella asked getting a nod from the Argentinean man.

"Of course senorita, I will be back soon." He said disappearing in a swirl of wind.

"I hope he remembers to teleport into the hallway to their apartment complex. Can you imagine walking in on Conrad and Andy when they're getting cozy with one another?" Madison asked with a shutter.

"I don't really want to think about that." Bella said shaking her head.

"Mère! My game isn't working!" Grant yelled from upstairs making Bella sigh.

"Go save the day mère." Madison teased only to get hit in the face with a throw pillow that had been on the loveseat.

The rest of the day continued as normally as possible for the group. Dante returned to tell them that Conrad would be over in another day or two with the results and more information if he had any. Andy was going to come and visit with Conrad as well as Felix. Aside from that they just settled in and relaxed from their long flight across the country. The following two days were also filled with mostly relaxing and getting used to the jet lag they had. While the house was filled with an anticipating tension for the time to move, the group hadn't really given much thought to the Cullens said to be in Forks. Hiro, Dante, and Bella got their old surveillance equipment up and running but it was a little out of date. They also checked in to what HYDRA was up to. Luckily it seemed the base had little to no activity and the organization was none the wiser to the group being in Seattle. On the third day they had been there the morning calm was broken by the ringing of the doorbell.

Dolph went to the door while Bella sat mumbling something to herself in front of her laptop and Hiro sat reading the local newspaper. As he got to the door he peeked out of the eyehole before smiling and opening the door. "Mr. Conrad, Mrs. Andy, and Mr. Felix it is good to see you three again." He greeted the three older members of their group.

"Hey there Dolph, you're still as polite as ever I see." Conrad greeted in return as he entered the house with a smile.

"It's nice to see you in good health Dolph." Amanda said following her husband into the house with a smile. She also rolled her eyes at the how absolutely polite Dolph was.

"Please tell me you haven't served breakfast yet." Felix said with a yawn as he followed his cousin and best friend into the house.

"No, I was just about to finish it actually. You are more than welcome to join us." Dolph said with a smile as he shut the door.

"That sounds wonderful Dolph." Amanda said with a smile as the four made their way to the kitchen. "Morning Hiro, Bella."

"Hey Andy, just give me a second." Bella said as she typed a few things on her laptop. Hiro only lowered his newspaper to give the newcomers a greeting nod before returning to his reading. It didn't take long for the three to get settled. Amanda and Bella soon got into a conversation about what they had been up to while Felix happily enjoyed a large cup of coffee and Dolph listened to Conrad go on about his latest breakthroughs. A few minutes later the rest of the household came down and greeted their friends before they all sat down for breakfast.

"So anything new dear cousin?" Madison asked while they sat around the kitchen. Hiro was helping Dolph with the dishes and other cleaning while the others waited for the geneticist's answer.

"Well I found something very interesting pertaining to that blood sample you gave me the day you got here. I did end up getting a sort of match on my database. Apparently he has enough alleles in common to be Wolverine's son and your father's half brother." Conrad said to Bella who blinked slowly.

"So I ram my hand through my uncle's lung?" She asked still in slight shock.

"Yep! Wait, what?" Conrad asked getting a snicker from Madison.

"Those two got into a slight scuffle before we left and let's just say from the sounds of it he will bless his enhanced healing." Madison said with a grin. "Anything else?"

"Well from what Felix and I can gather there are at least three Cullen members in Forks at this time. We couldn't tell which but it's a lot better than what we had earlier. It's obvious that the coven up in Alaska has been hiding the Cullens but from who or why we don't know." Conrad said getting a nod from Felix.

"What do you guys plan on doing?" Amanda asked with some concern stealing a glance at Grant who was looking at his adopted mother.

"We split up." Bella said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Three of us will go to Alaska and eliminate the coven there, perhaps even drive the other Cullens here to Forks. Once that is done they meet up with myself and whoever I bring to Forks with me."

"That sounds like a plan but who will go where?" Dolph asked curiously but they all pretty much knew who was going where.

"I'll take Mad and Grant with me to Forks, you three can head to Alaska." Bella said to the three men she worked with.

"I have no problem with that arrangement." Dante said even if he didn't particularly want to go to Alaska. He was never a big fan of the cold having grown up in the tropical weather of South America but was willing to put that aside for safety purposes. "What about you two?"

"I agree whole heartedly." Dolph said but his ears fell back in slight annoyance just thinking of the weather of Alaska. "Mr. Hiro?"

"It's acceptable." Hiro said simply with a nod.

"Well I for one think Grant should stay here with Conrad, Felix, and I." Amanda said with a frown not wanting the boy to be in potential danger.

"I know your worries Andy and I have them as well. It will mostly be for show really, he probably won't even fight. If anything he can be used as support to give one of us cover should we need it. He has become very good with his force field. I have confidence he will be in as little danger as possible, besides I can always leave him with my aunt Sue or my uncle Billy on the res. The Cullens from what I remember can't go there without consequences so they will avoid the place entirely." Bella said staring down the older woman who considered the points. After a few tense minutes of the two of them staring each other down Amanda nodded.

"Very well, but I want him to be careful. Besides it will look strange if he isn't in your care while you visit your old friends. I'm sure they know you've adopted him." Amanda said getting a nod from Bella. Grant on the other hand let out a nearly inaudible breath. The young Cajun didn't want to be left behind, not after so long of being with his adopted mother on this hunt. He wanted to see the conclusion of all their work and wouldn't be able to do that if he stayed in Seattle.

"From what I can gather you have only three or four weeks maximum before HYDRA gets wind you're in Forks. It will be shorter if Dr. G is on the case." Felix said getting nods from their friends. "Don't screw this up either, who knows when the next time a chance like this will present itself."

"We weren't planning on it; we finally get to see why vampires have been trying to kill us for the past five years." Madison said with a smirk.

Even if everyone there was extremely relaxed and at ease with one another, there was no denying the tension filling the room. They were all anticipating the upcoming battles that would finally shed light on what was really going on. No doubt in the next day or two they would finally put into motion the events that would lead to the end of five years of hunting and fighting. Truthfully though Bella was a bit apprehensive as well, after five long years she would be seeing her ex-boyfriend again. The anger she had for him hadn't died, in fact it had only grown, but still it was a daunting challenge ahead of her. She just hoped she didn't screw this up and could finally put to rest that chapter of her life and move on. She especially wanted to deal solely with HYDRA soon, she didn't care much about S.H.I.E.L.D even if they liked to stick their noses were it didn't belong. Truthfully she felt it was finally time to finish this.

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YAY! Bella is on her way to Forks. Soon the Cullens will be entering the picture and the epic final fight will be in full swing, I think. I know the Cullens won't show up in the next chapter but they are mentioned. But never fear, they will make thier appearance shortly. I know there isn't a lot of action in this but then again I think it would be kind of corny if they just went in without a plan. Trust me even I am anticipating the Cullens arrival and I'm the one writing this thing. So I'll stop rambling and well go write since it won't get done any other way. In the mean time:

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	13. Chapter 13

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Yay! I finished another chapter, one step closer to finishing this story. Sorry it took so long to edit of all things but I've been pretty sick and it doesn't help I'm packing. I swear the dust is trying to make my life miserable. Anyway, thanks to all of you who reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: I don't know why I keep writing this everyone knows anything chemercially recognizable isn't mine.

**ENJOY!**

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"Well here is one place I never thought we'd see again." Madison said as they pulled into the parking lot of the small motel in Forks Washington. "And surprise, surprise, it's raining."

"Lighten up tante Mad; we're here for a reason." Grant said patting his blonde haired aunt on the back making her grin.

"You're right! We get to go hunting!" Madison cheered while Bella rolled her eyes and left to get the keys to their rooms.

The trio left as soon as humanly possible and Bella was surprised to find that her old truck was in Conrad's care. Apparently her mother had a feeling Bella was going to need it and Conrad would know where and when. Sometimes Bella swore her mother had some precognitive abilities. Not long before Bella's trio left Seattle her boys left for Alaska and she was waiting for their call. In the meantime she had to play nice and act as if she was only there to grab a few things from the storage rental she had in Forks. Truthfully she was grabbing a few things pertaining to her father and his relatives. But really it was a pain to play normal when all she wanted to do was find the Cullens and get Edward's location so she had a target for her pent up frustration. Idly she thought she'd go see Billy and Sue at the reservation as well as Angela since she was in town and all. She figured she could go see Billy and Sue alone letting Madison babysit Grant, her friend and adopted son could scope out the area for vampire activity while she visited. Nodding to that thought she smiled and went to get the motel rooms.

Once the three of them were settled, Bella sent Mad and Grant off with strict orders not to engage any vampires should they find them. They were only going to go confirm there was evidence in the area. Besides both were getting extremely restless and Bella didn't blame them. So while the two were off hiking in the nearby trails Bella turned her focus to driving to the res. She wondered idly what Jacob was up to these days since it had been a long time since she seen the boy. Mentally she shook her head since she knew Jacob was legally an adult now. She sighed, feeling old; Jacob could legally drink and she was a few weeks away from her twenty-fourth birthday. Suddenly she wondered if she should have called before heading over but decided to shrug it off.

When she got to Billy's house she was both surprised and nostalgic. The house hadn't changed, it was still a little red house that looked a little on the run down side, but she was surprised to see a larger more modern looking garage near it. She smiled slightly seeing the sign above it advertising it as Jacob Black's Auto Repair. Taking her keys out, she stepped out of her truck with a smile and a deep breath. She for the first time in a long time looked like Bella Swan, her hair was down and wild, her eyes were brown, and her teeth looked normal. She wore a stylish brown corduroy jacket, a forest green shirt, a pair of form fitting dark washed jeans, and some nice sneakers. Putting her hands in the pockets of her jacket she made her way over to the front door of the house. Once she got there she knocked really hoping that he was home and she wasn't interrupting anything.

She didn't have to wait long for the door to open either. In no time there standing before her was a surprised looking Jacob Black as she almost remembered him the last time she was officially on the res five years ago. Of course he had gotten taller and more muscular and his hair was cropped short, but he still had the same warm brown eyes she remembered. He was also only wearing a pair of cut off jean shorts as well so she noticed the tattoo on his shoulder. She figured it had something to do with his culture or maybe that wolf thing she remembered coming across before she left.

"Hey." She said with a slight smile and a shrug not knowing what else to do as he stood there staring at her in surprise.

"Bella?" He asked unsure if she really was the same Bella Swan that took off on her road trip five years ago.

"Long time no see, huh stranger?" She asked and before she knew it she was gathered up in a large hug.

"Bella! It really is you!" He said happily into her hair while she chuckled and tried to discretely dislodge herself from his grip. "My god, what are you doing here? How have you been? Where have you been?"

"Hey, slow down would you. I can't answer everything at once and I would like to actually be on solid ground if you don't mind." She said and he grinned sheepishly as he set her down gently on the ground. "Wow, you really don't stop growing do you?"

"Well I haven't grown much in the past year so I think I finally hit my limit." Jacob said inviting her inside. "So?"

"Right, well I needed to grab a few things from my storage container in Forks. Since I was in the area I decided to stop by and actually see Billy and Sue in person for once rather than brief letters or chats on the phone. I know I probably should have called before showing up but I had a long drive and plane ride so I wasn't really thinking when I showed up. As for where I've been, well I've been pretty much all over the place. I stayed with some of my extended family and Mad's extended family over the years and just tried to find a place to settle down. Nothing has really caught my interest yet so I just keep on trucking. What about you? How've you been?" Bella explained as she sat down at the offered chair in the kitchen.

"I've been good; I opened up my own business as you probably could see. Dad's doing good. There's really nothing happening around the res. I'm sure you heard Paul married Rachel so she moved out. Rebecca still swings in every once in a while but she lives with her boyfriend." Jacob said with a shrug.

"Yea, your dad keeps me in the loop as much as he can when I call." Bella said with a smile. "So you got your own car shop now, you're moving up in the world."

"Yea, it sort of just happened one day. I started to fix up cars off and on after High School and before I knew it I was running an auto shop. Dad likes it though; it really helps with the bills and stuff." He said a bit sheepishly, making her smile grow.

"I'll bet especially if your appetite grew with you." Bella teased lightly laughing at the mock affronted look he gave her. "So where is your dad now?"

"He had to go for a checkup at the hospital. His appointment should end soon and I have to go pick him up." Jacob said looking at the clock. "How long are you in town for?"

"Only a few weeks at the latest, I just don't think I can stay here long. It's been hard but I've gotten better." Bella said with a sigh as she looked down. "Ever since dad died, I just feel like this place isn't what it once was. I don't know Jake it could be me but…" She said trailing off glancing up at him.

"I understand; I know dad said you two got really close after your break up with Cullen. I don't know what I'd do without my dad around to tell you the truth so I can only guess what you're going through." Jacob said reach over and squeezing her hand reassuringly. He was happy to be awarded a small smile from his old childhood friend before she straightened up.

"So do you know what Sue is up to? I kind of wanted to swing by before I saved Grant from Mad." Bella asked curiously.

"She should be at home. She's baking up a storm for an upcoming bake sale. Who's Grant?" Jacob said the last part was a bit suspicious.

"He's my adopted son. I sort of picked him up when I was swinging through New Orleans a while back. Trust me he's really good at looking pathetic so I had to keep him. But he's a good kid so I don't complain too much." Bella said with a smile.

"I'd like to meet him sometime, how old is he?" Jacob asked curiously.

"He's going to turn twelve in October." Bella said happily thinking of the milestones they went through for Grant to finally get his birthday. "Maybe if I find the time between visiting Angela and swimming through boxes I'll bring him and Mad by. I know Billy hasn't seen my crazy friend since Angela's wedding and even then we couldn't stay long to really visit."

"Yea, that sounds great." Jacob agreed even if he didn't really trust Madison too much. If he had to put up with the blonde psycho and some kid to hang out with Bella he wouldn't complain too much.

"Great, well it was nice talking to you Jacob. I'll be by later to see Billy, but I really should try and snag Sue before she goes kitchen commando. I heard some interesting stories of her protecting her bake goods from Leah and Seth." Bella said standing up and he followed her.

"Sure, stop by anytime. I know for one that I don't mind you coming to visit." Jacob said with a grin before getting a hug from the brunette woman.

"Really, it was nice seeing you again Jake." Bella said before making it to her truck.

Her visit with Sue was a bit longer than she had anticipated. The two women really did act like aunt and niece. Bella had to give Sue an edited but rather complete rundown of what she had been up to. Bella knew the other woman knew she didn't tell the complete truth. Then again one of the things Bella really liked about Sue was the woman let the brunette have her secrets as long as she was safe. Bella got a laugh when she was allowed to eat some cookies and bring some brownies with her back to the motel while Seth whined about not getting any. In the end it really didn't seem like almost two years had passed since she last visited with the woman.

When she got back to the motel she noted that Mad and Grant were still out. She hoped they stuck to her instructions and didn't draw attention to themselves. She was just putting the brownies away when her cell phone rang. "Hello?" She answered.

"Bella-san, we have made it to Alaska." Hiro said on the other end.

"Great, what is the situation?" Bella asked getting straight to business.

"We are currently securing the safe house you purchased for us. We won't set out to find the vampires until tomorrow." Hiro answered getting a hum from Bella.

"That sounds perfect. Mad and Grant are on recon as we speak. I just had to stop by the res for a few visits. They should be returning soon with more news. If at all possible we will try to draw the Cullens' attention to Forks; it should lessen the load on your end." Bella said as she sat down on her motel bed.

"Very well, I shall inform the others. That is all."

"Call when you have more information or have executed things on your end. I plan on playing it cool for a while and laying low." Bella said getting a grunt from her Japanese friend before the line went dead. She wasn't all that concerned, she knew Hiro wasn't much of a talker and that was how most conversations went with him. "Now time to go get that pizza I ordered." She said looking at the clock.

Her trip to the pizza place was both interesting and informative. It also put her on the spot for a few seconds because she ran into Lauren. The blonde woman hadn't recognized her at first but once she did they struck up a conversation. It was polite and oddly enjoyable. Bella found out that Lauren ended up marrying Eric Yorkie who was now the owner of an up and coming computer programming business. Lauren herself had gone to cosmetology school and had opened her own beauty boutique. To help pay for the bills and such Lauren also modeled on the side a bit. Bella was surprised that it didn't take Lauren long to figure out she was Susan Meadows the acclaimed author, but considering she as talking to a woman who dealt with someone's looks for a living it shouldn't have been. Lauren also told her all about what was going on in everyone's lives. Jessica ended up marrying Mike and they run the sports shop his family owns. She heard that Alice Cullen may be thinking about coming back to Forks for a while when Lauren spotted the woman at the gas station. Plus other small town gossip that Bella found refreshing. In turn Bella told her all about adopting Grant and her various trips around the world to promote her books and such. They would have talked more but Lauren had a hungry tech wizard and their one year old son at home waiting for her. In the end Bella found that now she was out of High School Lauren had become a rather down to earth well rounded woman that tried to do what was right and see the good in others.

When Bella got back to her motel room she smiled seeing Madison and Grant hovering over the brownies she got from Sue. "Back away from the brownies you two, pizza first." Bella said with a smile as both looked up at her.

"Mère, who did you get the brownies from?" Grant asked curiously but also eyeing the pizza hungrily making Bella smile.

"I got them when I stopped by Sue's place. I caught her in the middle of a baking frenzy for an upcoming bake sale. I didn't manage to catch Billy though since he was at an appointment at the hospital. I did talk to Jacob for a while." Bella said putting down the pizza. "So what did you two find out?" She asked as she took out her contacts and fake teeth.

"Well we did search the area and find evidence of vegetarian vampires. We managed to scope out the house a bit as well and we found one female blonde vampire and one really large vampire with darker hair. Both are vegetarian and were wearing the Cullen crest." Madison said taking a slice of pizza.

"So that confirms Rosalie and Emmett are in the area at least. I talked to a girl I knew back in High School, I don't think I ever introduced you to Lauren did I?" Bella asked Madison who thought about it carefully.

"I think you pointed her out when I first met Angela, the popular blonde chick who had an attitude problem until near the end of your senior year right?" Madison asked getting a nod.

"That's her, well I ran into her when I was getting the pizza. She mentioned that Alice Cullen was at the gas station so it's likely that she is here as well. Hiro also called and the boys made it safely to Alaska but won't go hunting until tomorrow probably. It seems the safe house I arranged was ready and fit their needs perfectly." Bella said with a smirk.

"So what do you plan on doing?" Madison asked while the three of them ate.

"At first I was planning on lying low but now that I know Alice maybe in the area, and Lauren knows I definitely am, I think we should go track down at least one of the Cullens and make them disappear. It will probably have the rest of the coven concerned with what's happening here and will give the boys an edge so they aren't up against a coven and a half." Bella said getting a nod from Madison. "We should also stop by to see how Angela is doing and I have to go to my storage place to get some stuff. I promised to go visit Sue and Billy as well."

"We seem to have a busy schedule. Alright, tomorrow we hunt down some vampires. That should be a priority, if we have time we can swing by to see Angela. The next few days after we wait until one of our boys call to get an update on their status. In that time we can go visit the res and you can go swimming in boxes." Madison said while Bella thought about it.

"I don't see why not, just so long as we don't run into any other Cullens while we wait. What do you think kiddo?" Bella asked looking at Grant who tilted his head still munching on some of his pizza.

"I don't mind mère; I haven't seen Tante Sue or Oncle Billy since we went to Tante Angela's wedding." Grant said with a smile.

"That settles it then. Now let's finish this pizza and get ready for tomorrow." Bella said turning her attention to the food.

"Can we have the brownies after?" Madison asked in a little kid voice.

"Only if you two promise to be good and eat all your vegetables." Bella shot back her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Oui mère." Madison and Grant said in unison only to laugh when Bella sent them a rude gesture in return.

The rest of the night was filled with a calm that only just hid the tension and excitement of what they had planned tomorrow. Madison had grown so used to hunting down vampires that any hunt had her nearly bouncing with anticipation. Grant was nervous since this would be the first official hunt he would be on. He had fought vampires before when they attacked him and his adopted mother but he never actively went out to find them. Bella on the other hand was tense; she knew she would have to plan carefully what they were going to do. She always worried about her friends when she sent them out on a mission. She wanted them to return in one piece and with only minor injuries should they acquire any. Now her mind was working overtime to come up with a way to keep Grant especially safe. She wouldn't know what she would do if he got hurt because she decided to bring him along. So despite the adrenaline already pumping through their systems the three forced themselves to get some sleep. They knew they would need it when they went hiking in the morning.

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YAY! Bella, Mad, and Grant are in Forks! Honestly I was surprised when Jacob entered the scene since I hadn't really planned on it but I couldn't get Billy to work with me like I liked so he had to be out of the picture. In the mean time we get to see some of what was happening on the res. Also a few snippits of what happened in Forks since the last time Bella was there. Anyway, things are starting to move and we will finally see some of the Cullens in the next chapter. For those of you who may be wondering I honestly don't mind the Cullens per say but for the sake of the story they aren't exactly viewed in the best of light. Personally of the Cullens Jasper and Emmett have to be my favorite, I really don't know why but that's just the way it is. Now that is out of the way I'm going to go work on the next chapter.

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	14. Chapter 14

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Moving right along I have five chapters to go now. Right now there's one hell of a storm outside and I'm worried about the lights going out so I'm up loading this chapter pretty much as is. I did edit some of the beginning but for the most part it was mostly scanning to find any major problems. So sorry if there are some wierd grammar errors I've over looked. In the mean time, Thanks to all of those that have reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: I only own the things that no one else has credit for, that should be obvious.

**ENJOY!**

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The woods were calm and the morning brought a light mist to them from the rain the previous night. The morning was still over cast suggesting it was going to rain later as well but for right now the weather was still. Not even the wind blew giving the whole forest a rather eerie quality. In fact if he really was a superstitious type of a guy Emmett Cullen would have said it was the calm before something very bad was about to happen. As it was things were pretty quiet and the woods weren't quite as uninviting as he was making them out to be. He figured it was the lingering sense of danger he had been going through for the past few years. If he was truthful things went to hell not long after Bella Swan's eighteenth birthday.

Shaking his head he rid his mind of those thoughts, he really didn't want to think about the past few years at the moment. Right now all he wanted to do was to go out, find a decent meal, and then head back to the house to see what Alice found out. The other day Alice had done some information gathering as it were and found out that Bella hadn't been seen around Forks since she took off on a road trip five years ago. Alice also found out that Charlie had died only a few months after they left. Emmett had been saddened by that, he actually liked Bella's dad and he knew Alice did as well. His mate could care less and he winced as he thought of all the whining Rosalie had been doing recently. But Carlisle told them to go to Forks to try and find some decent leads as to where Bella was, so Rosalie wasn't complaining as much as she probably would have if it was Edward or Alice giving her the orders.

Suddenly his senses picked up the sound of a deer nearby and he took off. He saw the deer as he approached and was surprised when it suddenly took off running. The sleek doe looked only to be a few years old but it was fast and had the instincts of a survivor. However Emmett was faster and was on the animal in no time. What he didn't expect was as soon as he landed over the deer for the killing strike that it would suddenly shift into a silver substance. He may have only been shocked for a few seconds but it was enough for him to be caught completely in the silver warm metallic liquid. He felt his arms suddenly become immobilized against his sides and his legs lock together as if he was wrapped up in steel cables. He struggled to get out of the silver substance but not even his full strength could free him. For the first time since the bear attack he suffered from years ago he felt truly and utterly helpless.

Slowly the metallic substance around Emmett moved and shifted, rippling on its own accord, until sitting on the vampire was a blond hair young woman with husky blue eyes. Her legs, arms, and the end of her long braid seemed to melt into the material but for the most part it looked like she was just sitting crossed legged on top of Emmett. However, even with some of the substance gone Emmett found that the silver thick cords wrapping around him still wouldn't budge. "Struggle all you like, I'm quite capable of containing your strength." She said happily with a large smile.

"Who, no what are you?" Emmett asked still struggling but never once did the metallic substance move. It was beginning to really truly scare him like nothing else did.

"Well I'll answer both your questions since I'm being generous. You may call me Silverpool and I'm a mutant." Madison answered with a grin. "Now let me ask a few questions of my own." She said happily. "Tell me, where is Edward Cullen?"

"What do you want with Edward? What's a mutant? What are you doing here?" Emmett asked back as he struggled only to feel as if a bunch of small sharp needles started to pierce his skin. It was rare that he felt anything akin to pain but now it felt like he was being slowly cut to pieces as Madison tightened her grip around him.

"My boss wants to speak with him so she sent me to look for him. As for what a mutant is, well it's a human with a few extra powers." Madison said relaxing her hold after a second. "So are you going to play nice and tell me were Edward is or am I going to have to do things the hard way? I know that ice princess you like so much is also out in the woods. It wouldn't be hard to lure her into a trap, you certainly fell for it."

Emmett may not have known what was really going on, or why this strange human was looking for Edward, but there was one thing he knew he didn't like. He didn't like that this powerful strange human was threatening his family. So he mustered up all of his strength and fought back. He would be damned if he just sat by while Rosalie was in trouble, not to mention Alice. For a second he swore he was going to break free but that small gleam of hope was dashed when he felt once more like he was in the vice grip of a boa constrictor. The two fought in a battle of wills for some time before Emmett realized how hopeless his situation was. He was never one to give up but now he realized that there would be no escaping this mutant. As soon as that realization hit he also felt for the first time since he was a human the desperate helplessness that normal people associated with a dire situation where they knew they wouldn't survive. Unfortunately he couldn't turn his desperate situation around and into his favor, his opponent was too strong.

"Just who the hell is your boss?" He managed to gasp out as he felt his lungs collapsing under the crushing pressure of the mutant's hold.

"Why my dear friend Coyote of course, but you know her best as Bella Swan." Madison answered with a smirk even though she was disappointed. She could see the vampire giving up and she hadn't gotten any information she had intended. Besides, her time limit had run out and now all she could do was eliminate the vampire and hope Bella got more information than she did. So as Emmett stared at her in surprised horror she jumped up shredding the vampire into little pieces. A lit match later and all that was left of Emmett Cullen was the family crest resting in Madison's hand.

Across the forest another scene slightly similar was being played out between two mutants and Rosalie Cullen. It started out simple for Rosalie, she ran into a blind kid lost in the woods who was searching desperately for his mother. Apparently the boy was on a hike with his mother to listen to the birds when they got separated an hour or two earlier. Rosalie normally didn't help people outside of her family but something about the kid compelled her to find the boy's mother.

Things for Rosalie went south the moment they happened upon a woman standing in the woods calling for the boy. Suddenly she was trapped in a force field that restricted her movements and staring into the glowing amber eyes of Bella Swan. Rosalie noticed the changes instantly and thought she was looking at the devil in disguise as Bella's fangs flashed in the dim light shinning down through the tree canopy. The vampire also looked to the boy who seemed to be the source of the force field; he was now a few feet away and had taken off his glasses. Rosalie could honestly say the two looked rather demonic with Grant's red on black eyes and Bella's fangs.

However, despite her fear Rosalie was a proud person. She fought against the force field as best as she could but found the boy to be very strong. She refused to answer any of Bella's questions and threatened her when the other Cullens were mentioned. Inside though, Rosalie was scared and for the first time in a long time terrified of what would happen. It also seemed the more she fought the stronger the boy's shields became so eventually she settled for standing in the force field looking down at the two with a superior look.

"You can't keep this shield up forever and when you do bring it down I'm going to make you pay for this. First I'll see to it that that brat gets what he deserves for this whole thing and then I'll make sure you learn never to mess with a vampire again. Even nice ones can fight you know." Rosalie said getting a dark chuckle from Bella who sent her a predatory grin.

"Come now Rosalie, I've been fighting vampires for five years. It started not long after dad died with Victoria knocking on my doorstep and has progressed to whole covens. I don't think you can pose much of a challenge to me." Bella all but purred as she let her armor come out and coat her skin. She was fighting with the inner feral beast she had, not to tear into the vampire at that moment. She didn't want Grant to be extremely scared of her no matter what the boy had seen her do in the past. "And as much as I would like to stay and chat it seems our conversation has gone nowhere. So I might as well finish this up and meet up with my friend. I know Alice is around here somewhere and she will be more than willing to help me find Edward. After all we were such good friends before you and your family left."

Before any snide remark could be made from the blonde, Bella disappeared and not long afterwards Rosalie Cullen lay in a shredded heap on the ground. Grant happily used his kinetic manipulation powers to see that the vampire would have no chance of returning before looking up at his adopted mother. "What now mère?"

"Now we go back to the bikes and see if Mad is back. We've finished our part here and even if we didn't learn anything this should cause enough of a stir. In no time we may be getting a call from the boys that the rest of the Cullens are on the move back here to Forks." Bella said getting a nod from Grant who slipped on his sunglasses.

"Okay mère, when we meet up with tante Mad we'll go visit tante Angela right?" Grant asked getting a warm smile from Bella.

"Yea, that sounds perfect." Bella said before sliding her contacts into place and popping her fake teeth in. She wondered idly if there would be a day when she wouldn't have to ever wear anything to cover up who she really was. Then she thought of HYDRA and mentally shook her head, she knew as soon as she became a mutant her life would become more complicated than ever. She just didn't foresee the problems she had with vampires.

When they got back to the bikes Madison was just walking out of the forest on the other side of the road. "So how did you two do?" Madison asked with a grin.

"Not much just confirmed that Alice was in the area." Bella said with a frown as she went to sit on her Harley.

"That's more than I got. I guess at least this will send up a red flag for the other Cullens." Madison said also going up to sit on her bike and don her helmet. "So where to now oh fearless leader?"

"You didn't get too dirty taking down Emmett did you?" Bella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Have more faith in me than that, I've become rather good at making clean kills." Madison said in a mock huff making her friend chuckle as she helped Grant onto the back of her bike.

"Then we'll go pay a visit to Angela. I told her we were going to stop by around now when I called her last night. So she should be expecting us." Bella said getting a cheer from Madison as both women started their bikes. It wasn't long before the trio were off on the road again and heading towards the Cheney household.

Not far away in a rather spacious yet well hidden house, a small pixie vampire suddenly froze. She had been having a few visions of Emmett and Rosalie when suddenly they no longer appeared. Alice waited patiently for any more visions but the few that came only involved the other members of her coven disappearing. There was one or two where one of them escaped but only to be apprehended by the Volturi. She also saw visions of the Volturi sending vampires to Alaska to confront the Denali coven about her family. Frantically Alice went to the phone to call up Carlisle, the rest of them needed to come to Forks to find Emmett and Rosalie before they left to somewhere safer.

While Alice was frantically trying to make head or tails of her visions, two Harleys pulled up the driveway to a modest two story house in Forks Washington. Getting off their bikes and taking off their helmets, the three bikers made their way up to the front door. Bella made sure her contacts hadn't become unaligned while Grant fixed his sunglasses. As soon as they were ready Bella calmly rang the doorbell. When the door opened they were greeted to the sight of a tall light brown haired woman with warm brown eyes and obviously pregnant.

"Bella, Madison, Grant, it is so good to see you three. Come in, sorry about the mess but Ben and I are setting things up for the nursery." Angela said inviting the three mutants in with a smile.

"It's alright; it can't be any different than the mess our hotel room is in at the moment." Madison said with a smile. "Bells is going through so many boxes to find the things she needs that I'm wondering if she'll ever find them."

"Hey now, you happen to like all the junk I'm sorting through just because it's old, or so you said last night." Bella said with a grin. "By the way it's good to see you Angela and I can't believe how far along you've gotten since we ran into each other in New York. How's the pregnancy been?"

"For the most part it has been okay I suppose. I haven't really had any morning sickness or anything but my ankles are swollen and my back aches every now and then." Angela said with a smile.

"Can I see?" Grant asked holding out his hand even though he could see just fine that it looked like Angela had stuffed a watermelon under her house dress.

"Sure, if you're lucky you can even fell her kick. She seems to like to do that." Angela said putting the little boy's hand to her stomach and smiling when he gasped because the baby really did kick.

"So it's a girl? When are you do? I wasn't around for that conversation." Madison asked as she and Bella took a seat around the breakfast table in the kitchen.

"Yes it's a girl and she's supposed to be here on October second if all goes well." Angela said with a smile.

"Wow, that's not far from now considering in two weeks Bells here turns twenty-four-years-old." Madison said motioning to Bella who rolled her eyes. "Oh my, you're getting old Bells! Next year you won't even be considered a kid anymore, you'll be a full fledge adult!"

"Oh stop being so dramatic, it's not like you're birthday isn't coming up soon anyway." Bella said rolling her eyes at her friend.

"Not until December it ain't." Madison said with a grin.

"Tante Angela, have you picked out a name for her yet?" Grant asked ignoring his bickering mother and aunt.

"Well if she does turn out to be a girl like the doctors have said we were going to name her Alexandria Rose. If she decides to surprise us and turn out to be a boy we're going to name him Xerxes Malcolm." Angela said with a smile.

"Xerxes?" Grant asked curiously.

"Yes, he was a Persian emperor I believe. Ben found it in on one of those baby name sites and thought it was interesting. I had to talk him out of choosing something completely off the wall like Zevadiah." Angela said rolling her eyes with a grin.

"I like Xerxes better but I bet it's spelt funny." Grant said with a grin.

"Yes, it's spelt X-E-R-X-E-S rather than how it's said like there are a bunch of S's in it." Angela said with a small laugh. "So how are your studies going?"

"They are going well; mère has been teaching me a lot in between editing her book and oncle Dante helped as well. At the rate I'm going I should be able to get my GED when I'm fourteen. I'm already thinking about attending a college around Seattle so I can work with my oncle Felix or oncle Conrad. From how things are going I don't know if I'll ever go to High School but I don't really care either way. I would prefer being home schooled anyway so I don't have to put up with all the whispers about my eye condition." Grant said getting a thoughtful hum from Angela.

"I suppose that's true. But don't you think you should go simply because you will have social interaction with other children your age?" Angela asked glancing over to Bella and Madison whose argument was winding down.

"No, mère makes sure I have that already. When we were in New York I got to go to the Girls and Boys club. I also got to go to a few other clubs in the area for children my age. I still don't want to be a boy scout though." Grant said with a grin making Angela giggle. "Mère has been thinking about sending me to a summer camp next summer as well. She says that I'm at an age where I need to develop my social skills with other kids rather than grown sticks in the mud."

"I didn't say that, I just said you need to get more friends your age. The whole sticks in the mud were applied to some of the other authors I know." Bella said with a roll of her eyes.

"I couldn't tell mère you didn't indicate specifically what you were doing at the time." Grant said cheekily knowing she had been on the phone with some of her author friends. Angela just laughed quietly while Madison chuckled at the fact that Bella stuck her tongue out at child. Grant fought not to react since he was supposed to be legally blind but that didn't mean his eyes didn't dance with mirth at his adopted mother's childish display.

The rest of the visit was quite entertaining as well. Angela was glad to see that as time went on Madison had calmed down over the years and wasn't quite as out there as she once was. The trio got to see the room that would become the nursery for Angela's new family member. They also pretty much caught up with what they were doing. Bella helped Angela cook dinner and they were invited to stay when Ben got home from work. All in all, the visit was a comfortable warm one between old friends who reminisced about their high school days. It was getting late and the weather was picking up by the time Bella and Madison took off back to the hotel. All three mutants knew all they had to do now, was wait for the phone call from their friends in Alaska to see how everything stood. It wouldn't be hard; Bella did promise she would stop by the res again after all.

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YAY! Unfortunately the Cullens are now down two members. We get a hint of what is going on with them but for now it's in the dark as to what they've been up to for the past five years. Before anyone asks I know not all the Cullens need to die but since Bella and her crew are basically vampire hunters it should be a bit obvious that they wouldn't let a vampire go alive, or as alive as vampires get. I tried to make Emmett's death quick and painless but Madison did need answers which she ended up lacking in the end. We also get to see Angela in this. Well I'm going to go wait out the storm with my computer off in case the lights do decided to go off on me. Once the storm passes I will be starting work on the next chapter. Until then:

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	15. Chapter 15

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Yep, another chapter. I'm making good time but I just know I'll be cutting it close. I don't want to rush the ending but I do want to have this story completed before I have to move. From the looks of it I'm going to be writing a sequel since I finally wrestled out just how I wanted this one to end. However, I highly doubt that I'll be posting anything until after I finish unpacking in my new house, that's if I have anything written. As it stands I don't even have a potential outline for the next story but that's besides the point. I'll worry about that after I finish this one. In the mean time I'd like to thank all of you who have reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: I only own the OCs and plot line. I don't know how many times I've said this, too many to count off the top of my head it seems.

**ENJOY!**

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Bella was instantly wake when she heard her cell phone go off. She only idly wondered how surprising it was to spring awake after years of having a hard time getting out of bed, as she glanced at the clock on the small table next to her motel bed. The clock told her it was a cheery four o'clock in the morning and she sighed as she flipped her cell phone open. "Yea?" She asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Senorita Bella, forgive me for waking you. I was just calling to tell you that senor Hiro, senor Dolph, and I managed to find the rest of the Cullens going south towards Forks. We attacked the Alaskan coven earlier and eliminated them as instructed. Senor Dolph was the one to find the tracks leading them south and senor Hiro managed to track their progress towards Forks. I managed to secure phone records stating they got a call from the area as well." Dante said on the other line while she yawned slightly and got to work making some morning coffee. Just because she was wide awake didn't mean she didn't need a pick-me-up in the morning.

"That's good news Dante. Mad and I managed to kill off two of them two days ago. I would have called but I was busy helping Angela around her house a bit." Bella said as she put the coffee in the coffee filter and then into the coffee pot. Turning the machine on she smiled as she heard it start to make the delicious yet bitter beverage.

"Ah, I understand. How far along is Senora Angela?"

"She's due in early October, so only three or four weeks now." Bella said looking over to her sleeping friend and son. Grant slept with her again but managed to stay on his side of the bed while Madison was sprawled out on the other bed in the room.

"It seemed like just yesterday you were informing the chico and me that she was pregnant. Anyway senor Hiro has managed to secure us a flight back to Seattle and will be there shortly. What are your plans until then?"

"I've been lying pretty low and will continue to do so until you guys show up. It will be easier to plan things out when we regroup and I don't want to proceed in any plans against the Cullens until then. My goal personally is to isolate Edward, which will be difficult without your help." Bella said sitting down at the small table the motel provided. "Did any of you get injured in your eradication of the Alaskan coven?"

"No, it was pretty easy with our powers. They hadn't even known what was going on until we were nearly finished and by then it was too late for them."

"That's good to hear, what is your ETA?" Bella asked relaxing into her chair enjoying the calm of the morning. She could hear a light drizzle outside but knew for the most part the day was going to be relatively free of rain so she could leave the Harleys at the motel while she went searching through her storage unit.

"We should be there around ten tonight if all goes to plan, if there is a change in schedule we will call you immediately to inform you of such."

"Good to hear, I'll secure hotel rooms for the three of you. In the meant time have a safe trip." Bella said knowing it would be one of the first things she did after she got back from her storage unit.

"Si senorita, we shall see you soon." Dante said before the line went dead and Bella ended the call. Pushing down an anticipation like she never felt before, Bella set to work getting things ready for the day.

By the time midmorning rolled around Bella was slinking through mountains of boxes. Madison and Grant went to Port Angeles for a while, mostly so Madison could go see some of her old friends that lived there still. So it gave Bella all the time she needed to search through the boxes to find the things she wanted. It was taking her a bit longer than she expected but thanks to how she organized the place when she left she found the general location of the boxes she needed rather easily. She bit back tears every now and then as she found more and more things related to her dad as she went. Despite five years and fully coming to terms with the loss of her father, Bella always got a little chocked up when thinking of the man. She had some really good times with him despite the little amount of time she actually spent with him. Truthfully she wished he was still there so she could introduce him to Grant, she knew her father would have supported her with her mutation and would have loved Grant like the honorary grandson the little Cajun is.

Brushing some unshed tears from her eyes as she saw a picture of her father, Billy Black, Harry Clearwater, and her standing on a dock each holding up a fish for the camera. It had been the last picture of all of them together and perhaps one of the more successful fishing trips they had been on. She would really miss the three old men, she was certain of that. She knew even though Jacob didn't say it that Billy wasn't that well off health wise. The last few calls she had with him he sounded more rundown and tired. It seemed losing both of his best friends in only a span of a few months really took a toll on him. A few years later his daughters moved out and were living their lives, really the only one left for the Native man was his son Jacob. It tug at something in Bella's heart to know one of the key people in her life wasn't doing as well as he portrayed but she knew when the time came she wouldn't mourn too much. She had a feeling Billy would no doubt find her father and Harry in the afterlife if there was one and they would go on many more fishing adventures together.

Biting back a sob she put the picture away and sealed the box once more to turn to the next box. Once she slid her claw across the tape and opened the flaps she knew she found the box she was looking for. Glittering on top of the box in a glass and wooden case sat her father's military medals from his stint in the army. Under that sat the case holding the flag she was given at his funeral folded perfectly. She continued through the box until she found the things she was looking for. The first was an old journal her father had kept while he was alive. The next was a box that held a few keys. After finding the keys she managed to locate the old diary that belonged to her Grandmother Swan. Then she found the old dog tags her grandfather had owned, one of the only things she had from him. The final thing was a silver charm bracelet Grandmother Swan had owned. Making sure she had everything she sealed up the box and put everything back the way it was. Once everything was set she spent a minute just standing next to her father's old Harley admiring it before she left the storage complex.

She checked the time to make sure she didn't have to meet up with Madison and Grant just yet before she went to her next destination. Pulling up to the bank she sat in the parking lot for a few seconds before she pulled out the box of keys. Even though her father left her everything when he had died she could honestly say she never once checked to see what was in the safety deposit box now in her name. She didn't really have the guts at the time to deal with it but now she was both curious and slightly desperate. She had funded most of her vampire hunting escapades off of her earnings from her books but that wealth only stretched so far. It didn't help that people were beginning to wonder what she did with all her money since even if she traveled the world she should still have a lot more lose change then she did.

She knew she could have gotten a lot of money from the vampires she exterminated but something about taking the valuables from her quarry just hadn't ever sat right with her. Hiro once mentioned it went against her honor and she supposed he was right. The same could be said for all of her friends, they wanted nothing to do with the wealth of the blood suckers they killed. Unless of course it was given to them freely, which surprisingly one or two covens actually did when they found out Bella's group was targeting them. The first coven to ever will all their wealth to Bella gave her one hell of a surprise that was for sure.

So with some trepidation she got out of her truck and made her way to the bank. A few minutes and a meeting with some bank officials later, Bella sat in a secure room opening the rather mundane looking safety deposit box. Pulling out the key that fit the lock, Bella took a deep breath before opening the box. Her eyes widened in slight surprise when she first flipped open the lid, there displayed beautifully were several very expensive looking precious stone jewelry. A diamond necklace with a large blue sapphire pendent circled by blue topaz, a diamond chocker that had to have at least four rows of twenty four karat diamonds, and a very expensive looking white gold emerald incrusted ring, just to name a few. At least forty pieces of jewelry were laid out on beautiful black velvet in front of her and she could only gape in awe at the sight. Reaching into the safety deposit box to touch one of the necklaces she noticed that under the velvet board the jewelry sat on there seemed to be papers. Carefully lifting the display for the jewelry she pulled out the papers to examine them.

She was surprised to see the papers were in fact deeds to other properties she didn't know her father had owned. From the looks of it she now was the owner of a cabin about two miles outside of Forks, a house in Ontario, another house in California, plus a private island in the Pacific that had a house on it. As she looked through the other documents that held birth certificates, military papers, and other tidbits into her father's history, she narrowly missed the envelope that fluttered out of the stack and towards the ground. Using her quick reflexes she snatched the envelope midair before it even passed the table and flipped it over to see what it was. On the front written in all too familiar handwriting was her name. Putting the documents aside for now she opened the envelope curiously and pulled out the letter inside. She was also surprised to see that it held two keys as well.

"Dear Bella, if you're reading this then I'm probably dead. I know it might be hard for you to accept my passing and even if I wasn't there for all of your life know that I loved you from the bottom of my heart. Since I don't feel comfortable with giving away most of my things I more than likely left everything to you, with the exception of a few dollars going to my dear friends Billy and Harry. If not directly to them than at least to their families since they are the closest thing I have to brothers. I am writing this on the morning of your eighteenth birthday so I know without a doubt you more than likely are legally considered an adult and are not in anyone's care. If you go live with your mother I don't mind considering I know despite being rather mature for your age you need to cling to someone close to you. If you wish to stay in Forks but not my house I bought after graduation than feel free to take one of the keys in this envelope and live in the cabin my mother owned. I haven't been by there in a month or two so it may need some minor repairs but I've kept it up as much as I could. I didn't like living there because it hurt too much after my mother died. If you ever need any financial help just take the second key in this envelope and go down to the basement. There is a locked door that the key goes to and I have left further instructions in the top draw of office desk in that room. Don't worry about any of insurance finances of all the properties and things you now own. I made sure that until you turn ninety that they won't be a problem but if you need information contact Alyssa Mercy Waters, her last contact number should still be in my address book. I also kept the documents pertaining to all of the legal things in a safe in the cellar of the cabin; the combination is 2-15-7. I really hope I didn't leave you too suddenly and I hope you have a wonderful life. I'll be waiting for you in heaven, take care, love you. Dad." Bella read to herself before sitting down on the chair in the room.

It took a minute for her to pull herself back together before she stood up. She put the documents she didn't have a use for at the moment back into the safety deposit box and kept the ones she wanted. She also kept the letter her dad left her that held the two keys. She wanted to see what he meant and that meant a quick trip to the cabin that was her father's childhood home. It didn't take her long after that to get back to her truck. Before she took off she checked the time and grabbed her cell phone.

"Mad here." Bella heard on the other end after a few rings.

"Hey Mad, where are you two?" Bella asked curiously.

"We were just about to head back and meet up with you so we can go visit Sue again." Madison answered reminding Bella that she agreed to once again go to the res. For the past few days the three mutants were going in between the res and Angela's house just to catch up with Bella's friends. Bella didn't mind since Billy and Sue both instantly seemed fond of Grant who had in such a short amount of time became their honorary nephew. It helped both knew a bit about the boy from what Bella told them through her many postcards and phone calls. Billy and Sue also were fond of Madison now that she wasn't as spontaneous as she was when she was only eighteen. The blonde was still spontaneous but her maturity had definitely increased with age. The only slight problem was Bella just knew Jacob was attracted to her still and though he wasn't fond of Madison and still a bit uneasy about Grant, Jacob did his best to accept Bella's friend and adopted son so he could get closer to her. If there was one thing Bella didn't need at this point was a relationship.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she turned her attention back to the waiting Madison. "I found some stuff that I need to check out when going through my dad's things. It might take a little while so can you just meet me up at the motel. I'll try not to be long but I don't really know how much time I'll take."

"Okay, the kid still needs to work on his school work and I have some things I have to do online anyway so it won't be a problem. If it gets too late do you want me to call Sue and tell her we can't come to dinner?"

"Nah, it shouldn't take me that long." Bella said knowing she could just wait to fully explore the cabin if it came to that; she wasn't in much of a rush.

"Alright, since it's about one now that should give you four hours until we have to go to dinner at Sue's place. When that's done we still have about four hours before the boys show up."

"I know, and then we can plan our next move." Bella said calmly even if she fought down some excitement of what would happen in the next day or two.

"Yep, I'll see you back at the motel Bells."

"Later Mad." Bella said hanging up her phone and turning on her truck before taking off.

The cabin was a small quaint one story log structure with a chimney off to the side made out of large river rocks. It had a few windows and a nice front porch; for all intents and purposes it looked to be like something out of a story book. However Bella could see where it was warn in some places and five years of neglect had started to take its toll. She resolved to hire someone to fix it up a little but first she wanted to see what was in the basement. So after parking her truck in front of the cabin she got out and went to the front door. Using one of the keys from the letter her father gave her she opened the door and let herself in.

The interior of the cabin was as quaint as the exterior. She figured with the right furniture it would look almost picturesque. The fire place was in the den area and like the chimney seemed to be made out of local river rock. The floors were wooden but sturdy, and Bella could see the kitchen area easily from the front door. It lacked appliances but Bella could easily see a breakfast bar, an island, and wooden cupboards, and the countertops were made out of slate. She could also see a hallway that probably led to even more of the cabin but for now she was simply interested in finding the basement. Luckily she only had to open two doors in the hallway before she found the stairs leading down into the cellar. Descending the stairs that creaked only slightly she made it down to the cement floor basement, where she found a bunch of wooden racks that seemed designed to hold not only preserves but wine bottles.

As she explored the dusty basement was only lit by a single old light bulb that still could work. She figured the place had its own way to generate electricity since the cabin had to be off grid for a while now. She was certain she never paid any extra light bills and she already tested to see the water was indeed shut off. The light bulb didn't give off a lot of light but it was enough to help her easily see her way around. It took a minute before she noticed tucked away unnoticed next to two rather large wine racks with dusty bottles was a door. Had she not been looking for it, she would over look it since a smaller wine rack was placed in front of it.

Going up to the door she blew some of the dust off of the handle and locking mechanism before trying the second key she had with her. Like her father said the door opened easily and she was also pleased to see that it opened inwardly so she wouldn't have to move the wine rack in front of it. Easily moving over the wine rack she let herself in to the hidden room, only to find herself in an old dusty office. Turning on the light only helped a little and once again she was thankful for her superior night vision her mutation gave her. It made navigating at night or in low lighted areas very easy.

It didn't take long to find the desk her dad was talking about, outside of the desk and a chair there were only a few bookshelves in the room filled with what appeared to be old books and an old safe tucked into a corner. Searching the draws she found the necessary sheet of paper with the instructions on it. She raised an eyebrow at the instructions but shrugged and turned to the bookshelf. Feeling like she was in an episode of Scooby Doo she removed a book from the shelf and searched for a moving panel. It took her two tries but sitting there inlaid in the wall was a keypad. Surprised and a bit amused she typed in the code written on the piece of paper. She nearly jumped when the wall directly next to the book shelf began to move.

A few seconds later and some automatic lights turning on, her mouth dropped open as she stood in the now open hidden doorway. In front of her was a rather large size room that could probably hold four SUVs easily, but the size wasn't the reason for her gaping. There, only a mere two feet from where she was standing, stacked to the height of her shoulders and filling most of the room were stacks of gold bars. Not believing what she was seeing at first she nicked her arm with one of her claws, however she felt pain and felt the wound nit itself back together so she wasn't dreaming. Now she understood the reason for the independent electric system but she didn't understand why all that gold was sitting there. That was until she saw the piece of paper resting on the stacks of gold in front of her. Slowly she walked up to it and began to read.

"Dear Bella, I'm sure this will help whatever financial troubles you may have. My dad, that is your grandfather, left this in my mother's care. We had very little use for money since we lived comfortably anyway so it's been sitting here for a while untouched. I hope you put it to good use if you need to. Just don't spend it all in one place. Love, Dad." Bella read out loud her voice laced in disbelief.

Looking down at the gold bars she was stunned to find what looked like the Nazi symbol stamped on them. She may not know much about gold but she didn't doubt even one bar would be worth a small fortune and since it seemed to be almost pure gold she wondered how much all of it was worth. Shaking her head at the thought she knew she wouldn't spend it all, if she even touched it that was. Some of the documents left in the safety deposit box were other bank accounts at her disposal so it meant she had more money lying around than she thought. However, just out of curiosity she snatched one of the bars and put it in her coat pocket. She was going to call Felix to get more information on the gold her dad left her hidden away in a secret room in her grandmother's old cabin if it killed her. Although, as she closed the hidden door and left the office making sure to lock it securely; she realized why her father never seemed all that concerned with his paycheck. Shaking her head she locked up the cabin for now and headed off to meet up with Madison and Grant so they could go get their dinner.

However, on the other side of Forks Washington as Bella was pulling out of her cabin, several cars were pulling into the Cullen residence. Alice Cullen went out to greet the rest of her family still extremely nervous about the disappearance of Rosalie and Emmett. She not only couldn't see them anymore but they hadn't returned in the days since she first saw them vanish. She hoped Carlisle knew what to do because not only were Rosalie and Emmett gone; Alice could no longer get a hold of the Denali coven. She just hoped that the next few days would shed light on where all of them had gone and hopefully bring Rosalie and Emmett home safely.

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YAY! I know it's not action packed but I realized that I forgot to put in just how Bella and her gang managed to afford all the stuff they do. Don't worry the others contribute but for the most part Bella is the sole provider for the group. Also if you're wondering I'm pretty sure it's mentioned that Mystique, Sabertooth, Xavier, and Magneto all have a stash of Nazi gold from WWII and I always wondered why they never mentioned Logan having any. I figure if he did have a stash of hidden gold somewhere he'd leave it with his family since he always struck me as that type of guy even in the spinoffs were he's an enemy of the Xmen and such. It would also explain why he never seems to use it since if he can't remember he had any family he wouldn't remember where he put his stash of gold. Anyway, yes the Cullens have arrived so the final confrontation is soon. However I haven't started on the next chapter yet so I might as well go do that since I have time. In any case:

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	16. Chapter 16

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Well I'm moving right along I suppose. I paused a bit in my packing to get this written down and edited. I think I can honestly make my goal of finishing this story before I move. I have about six days and three more chapters to go. Of course I have to put this aside to pack but I'm to the point that I can almost toss everything I own into a box and suitcase and be set. So this will give me some more time to write. In the mean time thank you to all of you that have favorited, reviewed, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: I only own the OCs and plotline.

**ENJOY!**

* * *

"So you're telling me that this bar of gold is from War World Two Nazis?" Bella asked holding up the bar of gold she had taken from the stash hidden in her grandmother's cabin. She was on the webcam with Felix after Madison, Grant, and she returned from dinner at Sue's house.

"From what I can see of the stamp on the bar you have. I would have to analyze it in person to give you a confirmation though since it could be forged." Felix said thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "There was a large amount of resources not accounted for from the Nazi Germany regime after the war. By the time Hitler was killed the whole state was pretty much in chaos and breaking down in many areas. Even before that Hitler had many organizations within his own government trying to kill him. I think there were at least four known assassination attempts against him. I'm not sure; my World War Two history is a bit rusty."

"Alright, I'll bring it by when we head out from Seattle." Bella said with a nod knowing she could use the money from just this one gold bar. The rest she would leave alone for now, if she was really desperate she'd use it. She just didn't want to fall under suspicion if it got out she had a large stash of Nazi gold in her possession. She had enough problems with S.H.I.E.L.D. already and she didn't want to add to them with having the FBI, CIA, or IRA looking into her background.

"Heading out of Seattle? I knew you wouldn't be staying there long but are you sure you want to leave the west coast so soon?" Felix asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Yea, I don't like being a stone's throw away from Dr. G's old haunt. It's bad enough the base seems to be relatively deserted as it is. I know there were a lot more underground bunkers there than just the ones under the building Mad and I were held in. I wouldn't put it past the bitch to be monitoring Forks since it was my last known permanent address." Bella explained getting a nod from Felix.

"Your instincts are telling you to get away from there aren't they?" He asked with a knowing smirk that only grew when Bella shot him an annoyed look.

"Yea or I could just be paranoid. I'm not completely sure anymore which it is." Bella said with a sigh.

"Is either all that bad though? You have HYDRA on your tail no matter where you go, so being just a bit more paranoid than the average Joe should be a plus on your part." Felix said with a shrug.

"I suppose so, but I'm also anxious over the upcoming confrontation with the Cullens. I don't know call it prefight jitters or something." Bella said with a sigh leaning back in her seat.

"More like suppressed adrenaline." Madison said from her spot on her hotel bed. "I know the feeling, kind of like dread mixed in with a bit of I-can-hardly-wait-for-something-to-happen."

"Well nothing is going to happen until the boys show up, I know that much." Bella said over her shoulder to her friend while Felix chuckled and shook his head.

"Do you have any idea how you're going to plan out what will happen when you do face the Cullens?" Felix asked curiously.

"I'm not certain but I have a feeling we'll definitely need Grant's help on this one." Bella said with a slight frown.

"Really mère? I thought you told tante Andy I won't be in the fights?" Grant asked looking up from his work book. He had fallen a bit behind in the rush to get to Forks and was making things up now there was a slight lull in activity.

"I know what I said, and I don't think you'll be actually fighting. You've really gotten the hang of your force fields since we got to Bayville. Before you could only create one powerful force field to shield only you, but now you've been creating force fields around objects. Those shields may not be as powerful as your own personal one, but they're enough to contain a vampire, which was proven when you managed to cage Rosalie." Bella said back to her son who grinned at the slight praise.

"That's true, you still need to work on your powers but they have been developing rather nicely the past few months, haven't they?" Madison said thoughtfully thinking back to what she knew of Grant's abilities and his control over them. If he wasn't careful he still would charge something accidently if he became emotionally distressed, but for the most part he was slowly gaining control over them.

"Just don't tell Andy about this, she'll flip." Felix said shaking his head with a smirk. "Well outside of the gold is there anything else you wanted me for?"

"Yea, I need you to look up someone for me; her name is Alyssa Mercy Waters. She was an old contact from my dad and has some information about his finances and things I want to double check. Give me a full rundown when you're ready, I want to know who I'm dealing with when I contact her." Bella said getting a nod from Felix.

"That I can do; nothing much is happening here but Conrad has made a break through with one of his experiments." Felix said with a smile. "It's not a full proof fix but he teamed up with some other scientists and has found a way to make enzyme specific chemo treatments. It still is a bit rough on the body and doesn't fully cure the cancers they've been working on, but it is showing great results in putting the cancers into remission. He also has managed to begin breeding pea plants with an active X-gene factor. He still hasn't begun testing if his procedures will work on tea plants, but he's beginning to analyze just how the X-factor works and decides mutations. He figures in a few months, and with some of the medical stuff you stole from HYDRA, he can begin to predict the chances of and the actual mutations of the plants. Once he knows that, he's thinking of working on tea plants and perhaps some mice. He wants to make sure he can predict the outcome of introducing a mutated agent into another living being before he even starts to make his research anything other than top secret."

"That sounds like him." Bella said with a smile glad her friend was getting closer to realizing his life dream of curing cancer.

"Yea, he's a bit worried though. He just knows that if word gets out that he has a way of predicting both mutants and their potential powers a lot of people will want the information. He's trying to come up with a way to keep that from ever coming to light. The last thing he wants is to condemn mutants, let alone potential mutants, thanks to something he came up with. He also knows just how dangerous it can be if someone finds out he has the information and won't fork it over. It will put him in a lot of danger and he would hate if something happened to Andy because of it." Felix said with a sigh that Bella felt like sharing. The information and research Conrad was conducting and gathering could be potentially deadly to many people, included himself. Most scientists wouldn't care, but Conrad was quite adamant that he wouldn't do anything to hurt the mutant community.

"Perhaps if he comes up with a way to restrict mutant abilities so they can't do anything outside of normal laws. It would give those guys in the government something to gnaw on and won't be devastating for both active and inactive mutants. Like a devise to protect banks and government buildings from infiltration or something. If he says it was a side project and just linked the two after some extensive research, it will make it seem much more believable. I know technology isn't his strong point but with a few pointers from you, I'm sure he can come up with something that could pass as a prototype." Bella suggested looking over to Mad who thought about it.

"Yea that might work, if he's trying to make it so the government has more control over mutant criminals, it would put both the higher ups and regular citizens to some ease. You would need to know a bit about mutants for anything pertaining to them to work. He wouldn't have to name names if he says he got his mutant samples from some willing law abiding mutants. Since there are laws against release of test subject material, his so call mutants would be safe and as an added bonus he won't have to explain what his research really is." Madison said getting a thoughtful hum from Felix.

"I'll run it by him but I know it would be a tempting cover. The government is really biting at the bit to deal with mutants now that many factions have become more active. It won't lead to a quick fix for radicals, but then again nothing ever does. It will, however, shed some good light on mutants rather than all that racial propaganda fascists have been spouting ever since mutants started to become more public." Felix said with a nod.

"But why does he have to be so careful?" Grant asked with a frown not understanding why Conrad was so uneasy about making his research public.

"It's because even the most helpful tool made from well meaning people can be turned into a weapon. He doesn't want to see all his hard work turn into a weapon of mass destruction against the people he cares about." Felix answered simply making Grant blink before nodding in understanding. "In any case I have to let you guys go. I still have some work to do for my company and since it's not going to get done on its own, well you get my point."

"Sure we do, besides I think I hear some Harleys heading in our direction." Bella said looking towards the window of their motel room even if the blinds were closed.

"Take care you guys and be safe." Felix said before giving a mock salute and ending the call. Bella simply closed her lap top before heading over to the window and looking out into the night. Sure enough three Harleys pulled into the small motel parking lot and it wasn't long before three men made their way to the office. Glancing at the clock Bella noted it was just past nine thirty.

"They're a bit early." She said having spotted Dolph's tail even from her position.

"There must have been rather light traffic on the highway out of Seattle then." Madison said not looking up from what she was doing on her own lap top.

Bella just hummed in response before turning back to her lap top. She knew the three men wouldn't be coming over until after they got settled in. She just hoped their journey to Forks was a pleasant one and they hadn't rushed themselves to regroup. She didn't like over taxing her friends, even if they only had a small window of opportunity presenting itself to them. So as she waited she read through and started to edit her book once more. By now she would be annoyed with it but she was just too anxious with everything else that instead of being annoying it was calming.

Dolph was the first one to check in with Bella's group. He didn't stay long since he simply wanted to get a map of the area around the Cullen's home. He was anxious to check the house to confirm that the rest of the Cullen coven had made it back to Forks. Bella didn't stop him but made sure he was up for the task before letting him go. Dolph mentioned before he left that both Hiro and Dante wanted to take showers before checking in with Bella. The others knew all too well that both mutants weren't very fond of airport traveling. In fact Bella sympathized with her two friends, since she never did get used to the sounds and lack of frequent showers in between flight changes. She often felt like she acquired several inches of dirt by the time she reached her destination.

So by the time Hiro and Dante showed up in Bella's room Dolph had already been gone for thirty minutes. "When do you think we should strike?" Bella asked curiously to her friends as they waited for the cat like mutant to return.

"I say we get the information from Dolph and make our plan of attack tonight." Madison said with a frown. "When the kiddo and I drove back here I noticed a few army trucks going in between that old army base and Port Angeles. I don't really like it."

"It would depend on the information Dolph's reconnaissance provides however." Bella pointed out with a frown.

"I have to agree with Madison-san on this one." Hiro said calmly in his dull monotone. "Even a few days near a HYDRA base could spell disaster for us."

"Si senor, but it will mean nothing if senorita Bella's goals are not met in our stay here. Should we let even one of the Cullens go, it will be very difficult finding it again." Dante said calmly. "If anything if it came to a show down, I think we should eliminate as much of the coven as possible. So we should head in full force and strike hard."

"I agree that that, but I'm a bit worried that Edward might not be there." Bella said with a frown. "I know they have that island off the coast of South America, but it also seems they are not above hiding with other covens. I don't want to miss my chance of confronting Edward and have to face a whole other coven just to get to him."

"Don't worry Bells, you now he wouldn't leave his family if it meant they were at risk. You told me so yourself, he probably is there wondering what happen to Emmett and Rosalie just like the rest of them." Madison said reassuringly hoping to cheer up her friend.

"And he is." Dolph said walking into the hotel room surprising all but Bella who knew he was approaching. "The whole coven is there in fact with the obvious exception of Emmett and Rosalie Cullen."

"Seriously? The entire coven is present?" Madison asked in slight surprise getting a nod from Dolph.

"I wasn't able to get much from what I saw but I can confirm all are there. From the looks of it they may be going out tomorrow sometime to search for their missing coven members." Dolph said with a frown since really he couldn't get much from his observations. "When I spotted them they were waiting to see if Alice would get any visions as to what happened to the two. I think because of Ms. Bella's shielding capabilities the vampire is unable to see us."

"Well that's good information not know but what now?" Bella asked the one question they all wanted answered but slightly dreaded all the same.

"We need a battle plan. It's obvious we'll be striking the coven tomorrow when we are all rested and ready." Madison said getting nods from the guys. "We already decided we'll have Grant help separate the coven to isolate them. If we are lucky we can catch them on their search or just beginning it so the kid won't have to stretch his powers too far."

"The chico can isolate them with his powers?" Dante asked curiously.

"His force fields aren't as powerful as if he was protecting himself, but they are enough to hold an average strength vampire. We found that out when I took out Rosalie. She was able to hit the force field but it didn't shatter. From what I seen in Bayville he can cast them out in a ten mile radius, but the more force fields the less power they have so we'll have to work quickly, as not to strain him." Bella said getting a nod from Dante who gave Grant a pleased grin.

"Understandable, perhaps we should try to match powers to powers the best we can." Hiro suggested making Bella hum in thought.

"Edward is already mine, which leaves Esme, Carlisle, Alice, and Jasper." Bella said thoughtfully as she thought over who would have the best advantage of which vampire. "I think at the very least Hiro should take down Alice. She's the second fastest of the coven, and due to her size will be hard to catch if she can get going."

"I'm fine with that." Madison said before tilting her head. "What about Dolph taking on Esme? I know he would probably should take down Jasper, because he can cloak himself, but isn't Jasper a Civil War veteran? He would know more about fighting and could get the upper hand if he catches our kitten off guard. No offense Dolph."

"None taken Ms. Madison, I actually agree with you. While I do know my fair share about fighting, I think Mr. Dante would have a much better chance than I do. If worse comes to wear he can teleport to another location, whereas I cannot." Dolph agreed looking to Dante who nodded in approval.

"That would leave Carlisle for senorita Mad." Dante said ticking off the vampires on his fingers.

"How will I know when you guys get rid of the vampires? I don't want to keep the shields up for longer than I have to." Grant asked curiously making Dante and Hiro share a smirk.

"We each get to have these." Hiro said opening a small case he had with him that held communicators that fit someone's ear.

"Senor Hiro and I made them while up in Alaska. They'll stay in place and are easy to turn on and off. They should allow us to stay in constant contact so you will know when to bring down which shield." Dante explained glancing at Bella for a second. Bella, as well as her friends, knew she would have her communicator off until she was ready to leave. The upcoming confrontation was in fact very personal and all of her friends respected that. "They have a radius of thirty miles and run on a secure line so no one can eavesdrop."

"That is so cool." Madison said picking up one and trying it on. To her it looked like a small hearing aid that was actually rather invisible when put in someone's ear.

"Well now that we know what will happen tomorrow, we should get ready and get some sleep. It's just after ten o'clock now meaning we should be in bed at twelve at the latest. We will have time for some finishing adjustments tomorrow morning, so just get anything major you need ready. I want us at top game when we do face them." Bella said getting nods from the group.

"Hand over the communicator, por favor. I don't want to hear you snoring all night long senorita." Dante said to Madison who stuck her tongue out at him but handed over the communicator.

After a few logistics things that needed to be covered, all six mutants were getting ready for the big fight in the morning. Hiro set to work sharpening and cleaning his katana. Dolph was making sure his saber was in fighting condition. Dante got his machete in order and looked over the terrain he most likely would be fighting in. Grant finished up his work and got ready for bed. Madison simply went straight to bed not bothering with any preparation since she was already set. Through all of this, Bella sat at the table in her hotel room staring at nothing. She was more caught up with her thoughts of what tomorrow would bring, than actually concerned about being ready. However, despite all of this activity, all of the mutants were indeed ready and sleeping by the time midnight came around.

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YAY! They are finally going to face off against the Cullens! Not much to say just one of those chapters that helps the setting and such. I know the suspense is getting to a few of you but be patient. I will update either tomorrow or the next day. In the mean time I'm going to go write a little more than perhaps get back to helping my mom pack. Well not much else to say other than:

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	17. Chapter 17

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Sorry for making you guys wait a whole day. I had stuff I had to do and now it's really late, or early depending on how you look at it. Anyway, I edited this the best I could even though I know I don't exactly have a lot of time left to finish this story. I'm warning you now there may be a few gramar mistakes I missed and there will be a few in the next two chapters I'm going to miss as well. I'd probably be more dedicated to the editing proccess if I knew I had time to actually look for every mistake I could find but I don't have time. It's eligiable so that's all that counts. Anyway, THANKS for those that have reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: I only own the OCs and plotline everything else is stuff I only wish I owned. I wouldn't be as poor as dirt then.

**ENJOY!**

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The morning started out as if it was normal, Bella woke up and made coffee. She glanced at the clock only once, which was saying it was seven in the morning. While she let the coffee brew she took a shower. Once out of the shower she put on her leather vest, blue jeans, and socks. Running a brush through her drying hair she went back into the main part of the motel room to grab a cup of coffee. The smell of caffeine woke Madison and it wasn't long before the blonde was well into her morning ritual as well. The two women didn't speak at all, but an oddly comfortable tension settled over them. Once Madison was finished with the bathroom, Bella woke up Grant and sent him off to get ready. By the time Grant was out of the bathroom and tying his hair back into his customary ponytail, the three men of the group had shown up with breakfast. Things for the most part were quiet, with only a few questions being asked and answered every few minutes or so. Finally breakfast was over and they started to really beginning moving.

"Ready?" Bella asked her friends once nine o'clock rolled around. A prepared hush had fallen over the group as the others all nodded. The thoughts of jokes and games evaporated with the thrill of a well anticipated hunt. So with the readiness of a strike team, the group of vampire hunters left the motel on their Harleys. They had vampires to kill and nothing would stop them from obtaining their goal.

The Cullens were at their house deciding on their next course of action, when a loud explosion and shock wave rippled through the air from their back yard. Startled and more than a little surprised, all five coven members rushed to see what the commotion was about. They knew that people only knew about Alice being in the area, so they were unsure why their house was under attack. When they got out to the back yard all they saw was a whole in the ground where a tree once stood.

"Alice do you know what is going on?" Carlisle asked with a frown looking at the broken earth and chard grass where a once magnificent old tree once was.

"No, I didn't have any visions with this in it." Alice said nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Look out." Jasper said feeling the air ripple between them. Instead of another explosion, however, the five vampires found themselves looking at an almost thin see through layer of dark red energy.

"What on earth?" Edward asked reaching out to touch the barrier now separating him from his family. He hissed in surprise as the energy singed his fingers.

"Whatever it is we shouldn't touch it." Esme said wanting to go over to check to see if Edward was fine.

"What is this Carlisle?" Alice asked looking at the barrier curiously.

"I'm not sure; it looks to be a force field of some kind." Carlisle answered before looking around and picking up a small stone nearby inside his barrier. He tossed the stone at the barrier, and frowned when the stone bounced off of the energy with the same amount of force he threw it at. He was also displeased to see the energy only rippled minutely before returning to a solid barrier.

"Do you think it's the Volturi?" Edward asked curiously eyeing the shield and wondering what could be causing it.

"I'm not sure; I have never come across anything like this. If it is the Volturi then the vampire responsible is one I have no knowledge of." Carlisle answered still not liking the situation.

"Someone is the cause of it though; I can feel emotions coming off of it. They're so focused and determined, it feels almost protective in a way." Jasper said with his hand close to the barrier but not touching it.

"Interesting, that means someone wants us to be separated." Esme said not liking the situation. She looked around to see the shield bending around her like she was in some sort of dome like structure. "Perhaps they're in the woods? These barriers lead into them."

"But if that's the case it could be a trap." Edward said before he was forced to take a step back as the barrier moved towards him. "Or we could be forced to go into the woods." He amended before his eyes widened. Having little to no time to comprehend the situation further the barriers seemed to shoot towards the vampires with surprising speed. Each of the Cullens got to have one last good glimpse of each other before they had to disappear into the foliage.

Alice raced through the woods out running the energy barrier rather easily but keeping an eye on it. She didn't know how far the creator of the force field wanted her to go so she'd wait. In the mean time she was in no way shape or form going to touch the energy barrier. If it could burn vampires than it would be quite dangerous, but she was surprised that it didn't affect the trees at it raced after her. In fact the surrounding foliage didn't even shift as the energy passed over them. After a minute the force field stopped so Alice slowed to a stop as well. Looking up she noticed the force field didn't even pass the top of the trees so no one would actually be able to see the energy dome.

Suddenly a stick snapping in front of her, made Alice look away from the barrier that surrounded her. Standing only a few feet away was a young man that looked to be in his early twenties late teens. He had black hair that seemed to be gathered into a ponytail at the base of his skull. His eyes were a sharp dark brown color and it wasn't hard to see his Asian heritage. He was a slim man that was also rather built. He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt under a fashionable black leather jacket, as well as some black jeans that were designed for easy maneuverability. To finish off his look he wore a pair of black combat boots, some fingerless gloves, and had a katana tied to his side. He was regarding Alice blankly but with a certain gleam of appraisal in his eyes.

"So you are Alice Cullen." He said in a calm monotone that held a faint but recognizable Japanese accent to it. "I heard quite a bit about you Cullen-san."

"Who are you? What do you want?" Alice asked a bit uncertain since she didn't have any visions of this encounter.

"You may call me Raiu, I was sent to kill you." Hiro responded with a slight bow as he introduced himself.

"Kill me? Why?" Alice asked feeling for the first time in a while a bit out of her depth.

"My boss, Coyote-san, has a certain vendetta against your coven member Edward. Since hunting vampires is what we specialize in, she has asked that we take care of any obstacles that may get in her way." Hiro responded simply his hand moving to his katana. "You are one of those obstacles."

"Why does she have a vendetta against Edward?" Alice asked uneasily wondering just how specialized this boy was.

"You could say he caused her a great deal of pain and grief. She finds this unacceptable." Hiro said before suddenly falling into stance. Alice only had the slight whisper of a blade being drawn and a flash of silver to warn her to dodge. Despite the forewarning that her opponent was going to attack, Alice noticed a good chunk of her hair falling to the ground. Looking back at the boy she noticed his katana left a deep slice through the tree that had been nearly a foot behind her. The boy's blade didn't even look like it had cut through anything, making Alice nervous about how sharp it was.

"What are you?" She asked backing up in slight fear since she barely saw him move. As far as she knew no human could move as fast as or faster than a vampire. She would have seen one in her visions if she had, she was sure of it. Well she had been sure before, now she was uncertain if she could actually see whatever the boy was with her powers.

"I am a mutant." Hiro said turning to her again. "I am how would you say? A human with a bit of extra, I am someone who has abilities that normal humans lack."

If there was ever a time Alice Cullen felt scared out of her mind this was it. Despite her fear however she was determined to fight. So the two fought, each of them were trying to gain an upper hand over their opponent. Alice was a decent fighter and her size and speed led to her being rather hard to catch. However, Hiro was by far the superior fighter having been trained from an early age just for that one skill. He also was amazingly fast due to his mutation and surprised Alice when he threw a ball of lightning at her. Alice in the first two minutes knew suddenly just why her opponent was considered a mutant. She had never seen a human that could move so quickly, let alone one that could create and control lightning. They fought evenly for nearly ten minutes before Alice accidently slipped on a wet patch of grass. Hiro didn't give her any time to recover and had his katana pinning her to the ground by her neck, cutting her spinal cord in the process so she couldn't move her body.

"Who is your boss really?" Alice asked not remembering any person Edward actually hurt unless it was one of his many admirers he turned down.

"Her name is Bella Swan." Hiro said enjoying the look of pure shock on the vampire's face before he used his powers to flash fry her. All that was left after the white hot lightning stopped charring the ground was the Cullen crest resting untouched on the blackened earth. "You were an honorable opponent Cullen-san but you weren't experienced enough." He muttered to himself as he picked up the crest. "Grant-kun, Alice has been eliminated; you may lower the shield around me." He said after turning on his communicator.

"Okay oncle Hiro." Grant said and Hiro watched with some amazement and pride as the force field around him slowly vanished into thin air. He would be the first to admit he was pleased to see how far along Grant had managed to come since they had first met. Shaking his head he went to see who else was finished and to keep his little friend company while they waited.

Similarly to Alice, Jasper had stopped as soon as the force field stopped. He however went up to the energy and tried to see if he could manipulate it with his empathy. He knew he could feel someone else's emotions coming from the energy barrier but he was unsure if he could affect them. Just as he began to try to apply his ability to the force field, he suddenly felt like Emmett had socked him in the stomach and he was flying backwards away from the barrier. He landed with a groan and slid a few feet stopping in the middle of a clearing.

"Now senor, it's not polite to ignore a guest." A smooth accented voice said, making Jasper get to his feet quickly and turn to the new person in the clearing. Jasper mentally cursed having not realized he wasn't alone in the clearing and that left him open for an obvious attack.

Looking over his opponent Jasper felt he was in an old cowboy movie. Standing a few paces in front of the vampire was a young man in his early to mid twenties. His short dark brown hair was covered by a black cowboy hat and his chocolate brown eyes peered at the vampire from under the rim. Jasper also noted he seemed to have a natural tan indicating he was probably from one of South American countries if his accent was anything to go by. He also wore a black leather coat that went to his knees, a black t-shirt, some dark washed blue jeans, some work boots, and black leather gloves. Jasper looked at the leather belt around the man's waist to see if he had a revolver, but instead found a machete and a few other weapons indicative of gauchos.

"Who are you? What are you? And why are you here?" Jasper asked knowing the person before him was actually a human. He could hear the man's calm heart beat even from the distance they were standing apart since the forest seemed to have gone silent.

"My name is Viento. I'm a mutant. I was sent to kill you." Dante answered with a slight smirk. "It's an honor to make your acquaintance Senor Jasper."

"Mutant?" Jasper asked even though he was trying not to snort. The man obviously was mocking him a bit with his last comment.

"Si senor, I am a human with a few gifts you could say." Dante answered with a grin.

"Who sent you and why?" Jasper asked getting ready for a fight he knew would be coming.

"My boss senorita Coyote sent me; she doesn't want you to interfere while she kills Edward Cullen." Dante said pulling out his machete. "Her reasons are her own."

Jasper didn't like the sound of that at all. He had no doubt now that whoever set up the force fields was also working for this woman called Coyote. That meant if someone was sent to kill him to keep him from interfering than he didn't doubt the others were faced with the same situation. He also had a feeling he now knew what happened to Emmett and Rosalie. If Coyote came to Forks to find Edward she wouldn't have been pleased to find only them. She probably would have eliminated Alice as well if she had gotten her hands on his mate. That thought didn't sit well with Jasper at all and he glared at the man before him.

"Were you the one to kill Emmett and Rosalie?" Jasper asked with a frown.

"No, that honor went to my associate senorita Silverpool and to Coyote herself. I was with my two other associates senor Raiu and senor Cheshire in Alaska taking out a coven there. You could say we are professional vampire hunters." Dante answered with a smirk seeing the vampire's eye flash in anger.

Jasper felt a rage he hadn't felt in a long time. He couldn't believe the Denali coven was taken out right under their noses by this group. He felt sickened that he hadn't been able to help protect his comrades when they needed it. However, he also had a feeling there was one other mutant working for Coyote. It was obvious Raiu, Cheshire, and Silverpool were probably fighting with his family as he spoke to Viento. So that meant, somewhere there was a mutant that was responsible for keeping them separated. Even though Jasper didn't like the situation he had to hand it to the group of mutants, they knew how to make very good tactical moves.

"You will pay for that." Jasper finally said knowing he couldn't waste any time if he wanted to protect his family. If he could get past Viento he could figure out a way to break down the force field. That way his family would have a better fighting chance against this group of hunters. But his plan hinged on defeating Viento and he had a feeling that wouldn't be easy.

In the end it took nearly fifteen minutes before there was a break in the fight. That break came when Dante managed to use his manipulation of the wind to trip Jasper up. With the vampire trying to recover it gave Dante time to focus on his control. Jasper managed to get to his feet only to get hit with a small whirlwind of sharp blade like winds that tore through him easily. Before the vampire knew what really happened Dante had already poured gasoline on the remains and lit a match. He sighed happily as he clutched the Cullen crest in his hand; outside of a few minor bruises he was fine. The fight was perhaps one of the first ones in a long time where Dante was actually concerned he wouldn't make it out alive. In that respect he made a mental note to train harder in his off time. He obviously spent too much time lazing about.

"Chico you can lower the shield around me. Senor Jasper is defeated." Dante said into his communicator.

"Alright give me a minute oncle Dante; I'm taking down the shield around oncle Hiro first." Grant said absently obviously concentrating on the task at hand. Dante just grinned and waited, he didn't want to rush the boy who proved he had enough control now to be a valuable member to their hunting gang.

Esme had taken a deep breath as soon as the force field had stopped chasing her. She looked around the area she found herself in and noticed the rocky terrain among the large trees. She figured she had gone a ways away from the house and she worried over her family. She hoped they were alright as she tried to think of how to get out of her situation. She figured she could continue on to find just how far the shield went. Glancing up she noticed the shield also enclosed over her effectively trapping her. Determined to see her family safe she drew herself up and started off.

A minute or two into her journey she knew something wasn't right. She didn't know what was wrong but her instincts were telling her to get out of there. She jumped slightly when she heard some bushes nearby her location rustle. Turning to the disturbance she waited ready for anything but soon jumped when some stones behind her fell down of a nearby incline. Turning around she noticed no one there, now a bit on edge she scanned her surroundings carefully.

Suddenly, as if appearing from nowhere, a young man stood in the clearing before her. He was a rather tall and slim man in his early to mid twenties with a fit frame and perfect posture. He had short well combed tawny red hair and shocking catlike green eyes. He wore a fashionable dark gray turtleneck shirt, a stylish black leather jacket, some durable looking black dress slacks, and a pair of nice black boots. He also had a rather nice looking saber tied to the leather belt wrapping around his waist and a pair of nice black leather gloves on.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Esme asked wondering if this had all indeed been a trap from the very beginning.

"You may call me Cheshire, Mrs. Cullen. I am here to kill you." Dolph said pleasantly as if they were having a normal polite conversation.

"Why are you going to kill me?" Esme asked with a frown not knowing if this man could actually accomplish his set task.

"My boss Coyote wishes for you to be taken care of so she can kill Edward Cullen." Dolph said with a polite smile. "I am truly sorry for the inconvenience."

"Why does she want to kill Edward?" Esme asked becoming fiercely protective of her adopted son. "How will you be able to accomplish your goals?"

"She wishes to kill him because he has caused her great emotional pain and torment. As for how I know I can kill you," Dolph explained as Esme watched two tuffs of hair rise on top of his head forming cat ears and a slim catlike tail swished into view behind him, "I am a mutant."

Esme suddenly felt she was dealing with a human that wasn't considered normal. Her belief of that fact was backed up when Dolph reached for his saber and began to fade slowly from sight. A part of Esme was helplessly amused at the fact that Dolph truly reminded her of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. Suddenly Esme felt a sting of a sharp blade and jumped away the best she could. She knew a fight was now on, but it was difficult to defend herself against an opponent she couldn't pick up with her senses. It was only through luck that she lasted five minutes before she was reduced to a pile of cut up parts on the forest floor. Dolph didn't waste any time setting the remains of Esme on fire knowing how fast vampires tended to heal. Once he was sure she wouldn't return and he held her family crest securely in his hand, he relaxed.

"Grant you may lower the shield around my location. Esme Cullen has been permanently taken care of." Dolph said with his own specialized communicator now on.

"Okay oncle Dolph, it will be down in a minute." Grant returned making Dolph smile.

Carlisle had stopped as soon as the force field had stopped chasing him. He knew things weren't ideal and he had a feeling they were about to get a whole lot worse. What he hadn't anticipated was a silver puddle of liquid metal to appear falling from the tree above him. He dodged simply out of instinct and was glad he did when he saw the small deep craters the metal left as it shot into the earth below it. He actually became rather disturbed as the liquid gathered together and started to giggle. He watched in amazement as the metal pooled together, expanded, and rose up to form a young woman.

The woman was perhaps in her early twenties. She had long platinum blonde hair tied back into a long braid that brushed her ankles and husky blue eyes. She wore a white jacket over a light blue shirt, a pair of white jeans, white boots, and light gray fingerless gloves. She also had on more jewelry and had more piercings than Carlisle had ever seen. She practically looked weighed down with how many silver chains she had wrapped around her waist.

"Awe, you dodged." She said with a pout even if her eyes seemed to dance with mirth only she could understand.

"Who, no what are you?" Carlisle asked in slight amazement even though he was pretty sure she had just tried to kill him.

"I'm Silverpool, your friendly neighborhood vampire hunter." Madison said with a dramatic bow. "I'm a mutant if you must know."

"Mutant?" Carlisle asked with a frown since he was sure he had never come across someone quite like this woman before.

"Oh yea, I'm a human with a little bit of extra in my genes that allows me to have a strange and unique characteristic most humans do not have. There are a lot of us out there but for the most part we stay hidden." Madison said bouncing on her heels.

"Why are you a vampire hunter?" Carlisle asked intrigued but also a little uneasy. The mutant before him happily introduced herself as his potential killer like it was an everyday occurrence. Normally he wouldn't have thought much on it, and tried to persuade his attacker to leave his family and himself alone. However, he doubted that tactic would work this time around. He also didn't know exactly what she was capable of and that put him on guard.

"Oh, you see I have this friend called Coyote. She also happens to be the boss of our group. She was hurt bad by a vampire she had fallen in love with. Now of course this shouldn't warrant an all out war against vampires, but a few months after she and her vampire separated a lot of other vampires showed up wanting her dead. It's been a right mess alright, and to tell you the truth my brothers and I never did take kindly to anyone hurting our adopted sister. Since vampires wish to kill her, we'll do everything to make sure they're dead first; even if we have to hunt down and kill each and every vampire one at a time." Madison said with a malicious grin.

"But what if my family and I come to an agreement with you and yours not to cause harm to anyone? We are vegetarians and have no intention of harming humans." Carlisle suggested only for Madison's grin to grow slightly.

"I'd take you up on the offer bloodsucker, if it wasn't your son that caused her pain in the first place." Madison said darkly as she watched Carlisle put the pieces together.

"Bella." Carlisle whispered in shock and slight fear. He was only slightly aware that his reaction just amused the mutant more. He did, however, snap to attention as soon as Madison attacked. Carlisle was quickly overwhelmed since he had never faced an opponent he couldn't truly physically hurt. Whenever he tried to get away or fight back, Madison turned into her liquid form and continued on attack. It didn't take Madison long at all to reduce Carlisle to a pile of burning vampire pieces, the only thing left being the Cullen crested ring in her hand.

"Grant, Mad here, you can lower the shield around me now." Madison said as she turned on her communicator. "How are the others doing?"

"Great tante Mad, oncle Dolph is already finished. I'm just waiting on oncle Hiro, oncle Dante, and mère." Grant said over the communicator while Madison checked her watch. It had taken her a little under ten minutes to finish.

"Dante and Hiro should be done soon. Give Bells as much time as she needs. Think you can strengthen the shield around her with the other shields down?" Madison asked curiously.

"Oui, I already did that with oncle Dolph's shield. Just give me a minute and you're shield will go down." Grant said sounding like he was concentrating.

"Alright kiddo, take all the time you need." Madison said before turning off her communicator and looking in the direction Bella was in. "And you take as much time as you need Bells. I know this won't be an easy thing for you to do." She said to herself under her breath.

Madison knew things were finally coming to a close on their hunt for the Cullens, but she had a feeling their vampire hunting days weren't over just quite yet. She doubted, after her conversation with Carlisle, that the Cullens were really responsible for all the vampire attacks their group endured. The blonde knew from her long time around Bella, her brunette friend knew the battle against the Cullens would be over but the real war was about to begin. Madison just hoped and prayed she and her friends were ready for whatever came from the conclusion of this encounter. As she walked back towards their rendezvous point, Madison also hoped that whatever happened, her adopted family of misfits would in the end be safe and happy.

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YAY! The gang has attacked, and the Cullens have fallen like flies! Yea, I decided to center this one around the others first since I think Bella's encounter with Edward really needs to be the focus of a chapter rather than a little blurb. So we will see that shortly. If you are confused I tried to make it seem like all four fights were happening at the same time, I'm not sure I accomplished that but it makes sense to me when I re-read it. Then again I am the author and know what I'm trying to get across to my readers so it's a little hard to accomplish that without a second party invovled. Since I don't have a readily avalable second party then I'm a little stuck. Now that is out of the way, I have a feeling that even though the four of them are somewhat minor characters, Bella's friends wouldn't be too willing to give the Cullens a quick death with a surprise attack. They strike me as being vindictive enough to want the Cullens to know who exactly was sent to kill them and who did the sending. If not to rub it into the Cullens' faces that Bella has such powerful and loyal friends, then to simply see the looks on the vampires' faces when they find out who wanted them dead. Anyway enough of my rambling, I have an encounter with Edward to write but first I really need sleep.

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	18. Chapter 18

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Yes, its the chapter we've all been waiting for. WARNING Bella is rather vulgar in this chapter so don't mind her language much. Otherwise I'm just glad this chapter is finished. It'll give me three days to finish the last chapter and be done with this fic. I am going to write a sequel but it may not be posted for a few months, depending on how fast I can get the internet and computer set up once I move. In the mean time I would like to thank all of you who have reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: Must I really? Okay I only own the OCs and plotline, everything else have thier own people they belong to so don't look at me.

**ENJOY!**

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Edward was rushing through the forest trying to outrun the wall of energy rushing at him. He was surprised by how fast it moved, and wondered idly if he wasn't a vampire if he would actually be caught by it. However, it wasn't long before he was able to stop, since the force field came to a surprising halt. As he looked at the force field he failed to notice his surroundings. He didn't even take notice of what was around him before the wind blew a surprisingly familiar and intoxicating scent his way. It was a scent he hadn't smelt in five years. He found it surprising how long those years felt, even though before he wouldn't have thought much about such a span of time. The last five years were the longest he had ever experienced, and it was mostly because he didn't have Bella there with him. He had spent almost every minute of the past five years thinking of the brunette human that had captivated him like none had before. Yet he was sure she wasn't in Forks, Alice had said Bella had left not long after graduating from High School, so he didn't know why her scent filled this clearing.

That was when he realized just where he was. It didn't click in his mind at first since he was so preoccupied with her scent and the force field. He was standing in their meadow. The place he took her years ago when he fell in love with her. He remembered how much she loved the flowers. However, fall was beginning to set in, and the flowers were already returning to the earth for their winter sleep. It left the clearing a bit too brown and a bit too desolate. It made him wonder why he hadn't caught the scent right away since he was sure it would be the one thing that stood out in the slowly decomposing clearing.

"You know I haven't been here for five years now, almost six." A voice said drifting into the clearing as a woman entered the clearing. "Not since you left me in the woods actually. Which reminds me, who the fuck leaves a distraught girl in the woods of all places with a rain storm coming, after breaking up with her? Did you want me to die of hypothermia? You could have left me on the doorstep to my front door, at least that way I could run to my room to cry rather than stumbling blindly through the brush. And I thought you were supposed to be smart, jackass." She said rolling her eyes before turning to look at the clearing. "Heh, I had a rather disturbingly accurate dream the night before that to. I was standing here in this clearing, the sun out, the flowers blooming, and all of that fucking romantic jazz. Anyway I saw what I thought was my grandma in front of me and you came out of the woods sparkling like a disco ball. It wasn't until then I realized that the old woman was really my reflection in a mirror. I tried to get it out of my mind, but it came blasting back the moment I got that shitty paper cut that ended it all for us. Figures something like that would happen; I always was a klutz back when I was a teenager." She said with her back to him but he could hear the thoughtful sarcastic and almost nostalgic tone in her voice.

Edward recognized her even if she had changed so much since he last saw her. She still had the brown hair he remembered; only it had more natural highlights than he remembered and it was longer and wilder as well. She was still the same height only she now had the body of a fit woman and looked to be closing in on her mid twenties. Her skin was still pale but now had a slight tan to it that came from hours in the sun. However, he also was struck with the differences he could see. Her eyes weren't the same chocolate brown he remembered, but a sharp almost glowing honey amber color. Also he glimpsed sharp fangs as she spoke, and he doubted she would have worn that outfit five years ago. On that thought he also doubted she would have used that language five years ago either. The klutzy lamb he remembered was replaced by this wild predator. He wasn't sure what he thought of that but she was there in front of him after so long. "Bella." He whispered in awe.

"Edward." She returned after snorting and turning to him once more.

"What happened to you?" Edward asked looking her over once more. His question seemed to amuse her because she chuckled under her breath a little.

"I changed Edward; humans do that with time honey." Bella said sounding almost condescending without actually being so.

"I know that." Edward snapped back slightly with his eyes narrowing.

"Do you?" Bella asked with a raised eyebrow and smirk that flashed a single fang at him. The two staid like that for a few minutes before Edward sighed.

"What I meant was how did you change so drastically? Normal humans usually don't. I don't recall ever meeting someone with natural fangs and amber eyes." Edward clarified when it became obvious she wasn't going to elaborate.

"I'll have you know I love my eyes and fangs, they are two of my best features." Bella said with a slightly affronted sniff. "As for why I changed so much is because I wasn't born a normal human. Don't get me wrong I'm human and all, I could even have never changed this much had it not been for Victoria and our break up. It's funny what massive amounts of stress will do to the body. I hear there's a study out there about the ill effects of emotional stress, I haven't really looked into it since I haven't had the time."

"What?" Edward asked slightly startled. "What do you mean Victoria? How did this happen?"

"Long story short, after you left me and I slowly got out of my depression, I spent a lot of time with my dad and his friends. After him and his friend Harry both died, I was driving back from the res. That's where I met Victoria on the road. She was going to kill me to get revenge for you killing James. I had a lot of built up stress and anger by that time and I snapped. I woke up like this, apparently my body couldn't handle the strain I was putting on it and tried to accommodate." Bella explained off handedly with a shrug. "That's just the funny way mutants work I suppose."

"Mutant?" Edward asked feeling a little out of depth since he never heard of mutants before.

"Yes, they are humans that were born with something called the X-gene. From what I gather it's hereditary but not all carriers of the gene actually end up with a mutation. My grandfather on my dad's side was a mutant but my dad wasn't. I ended up a mutant and my children may end up being mutants, but it's really up to the circumstances and luck of the draw." Bella said seeming bored with the conversation. "If you don't know what a mutation is, then I'm going to kick you." She added dryly.

"I know what a mutation is." Edward assured quickly knowing a little bit of what she was talking about. He figured since she didn't grow any more limbs or something, her appearance was her mutation. The two stood in silence as Edward digested this new information. It seemed Bella wasn't going to initiate any conversation after her first entry, so he took the initiative. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you." Bella answered her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Why?" Edward asked with a frown.

"I realized we had some unfinished business. The first glaring indication was when Victoria and Laurent attacked me before graduation. The second was when I was ambushed by a coven in New Mexico a few months after I left Forks." Bella said almost deathly calm. "Plus I've been meaning to talk to you for a while. You see I never got to tell you how I felt about this whole fucking break up since you know, you ran away like a coward. Left me hanging as my best friend would say, normally the girl gets to at least yell at the boy for being a fucking jackass. These are modern times after all and not some up tight Christian fucked Victorian era we live in. No offence to the Christians but I'm sure even they understand the lax codes of conduct."

"Bella, I only left to protect you." Edward began as he tried to explain his reasons.

"Protect me? You left to fucking protect me? Edward, you split on me and I had to face human eating vampires on my own! How in the seven hells is that protecting me baka? Don't you realize that if I hadn't activated my mutation I would be a god damn bloody smear on the pavement by now? Didn't you ever take into account what would happen if word got out I knew enough shit about you and your fucking family that I could be a danger to your society? Huh? Does any of this make sense to you or are you just that bloody daft you sodden fuck?" Bella raged only a tiny but aware she has spent way too much time around her friends. "Mon dieu, you are perhaps the most idiotic halfwit I've ever met, and that's saying something because I know quite a few idiotic loco people."

"Bella you have to understand." Edward tried again surprised by her outburst.

"No, you have to understand buddy." Bella growled flashing her fangs. "I've spent the last five years dodging covens, COVENS, of vampires out for my blood. All of that was because I knew you, your family, and your shitty ass life status. If you wanted to protect me so much, then maybe you ought to have been more focused on your society's reaction to me knowing about you, rather than your half ass attempt at acting upon your insecurities."

Edward really wanted to say something to explain his side of the situation, but couldn't argue to that. He hadn't realized at the time just how much danger she was in. That didn't happen until a few months after she must have disappeared from Forks. He knew she would have been relatively safe if she staid because of the Quileute wolves, but she also had a mother that didn't live in Washington. The second she stepped out of the protective territory around Forks she was fair game. It meant she wasn't in the Cullen's territory or in the wolves' territory, so any coven aware of her knowledge could take her out.

"They attacked you because of the Volturi." He said instead in hopes of redirecting her rage. "They found out that you knew and ordered for you to either be turned or killed."

"And you didn't think it would be helpful to drop me a line? Alice could have done it; she should still have my email address. I don't use that account much anymore but that doesn't mean I don't check it." Bella said dryly but her eyebrow twitched slightly in irritation.

"The Volturi were watching our every move in case we contacted you. After a while we had to go into hiding because they were becoming impatient with the fact you had yet to be taken care of." Edward said with a frown.

"The Volturi know how to hack?" Bella asked a bit skeptical. She had yet to see many vampires actually using technology all that much. Sure they had cell phones but none seemed too interested in things like computer programming that she knew of.

"Well, I don't think so, but Carlisle wanted to be on the safe side." Edward said a little uneasy with the lack of response. To him, Bella still looked more than a little pissed off.

"The safe side huh?" Bella asked unimpressed. "So what can you tell me about the Volturi outside of them being royalty and your police force? Like where do they live, who are they, how powerful individually are they?"

"What are you planning on doing? You can't take on the Volturi, Bella. They are too powerful! You'll get killed." Edward said instantly alarmed. "You don't have the power, even if you're a mutant."

After his outburst Edward could only register two things, one he was flying across the clearing and two his jaw was actually quite broken. As he slid across the dirt a ways, he tried to come up with an explanation for his sudden predicament. The only explanation that came to mind was somehow Bella crossed the clearing so fast he didn't see her move and hit him with enough force to shatter his jaw. Not believing that to be true at first, he sat up once he was done sliding. Sure enough standing right where he once stood was Bella, her hand still raised from backhanding him in the face.

"Now you listen and listen well you god forsaken bastard," she growled turning to him rage setting her eyes aglow, "never assume you know a damn shit about me. You knew me five years ago, yes, but a lot has changed since then. If you can't get that through your head, I would hate to have seen just how you would have treated me if you did turn me. I'm not your precious little klutzy breakable prize anymore; I'm a savage powerful mutant with a grudge against vampires. Your kind has given me nothing but trouble since I met you. Frankly I've become sick and tired of it. So if I want to destroy each and every vampire on this fucking planet, I will and not even god himself could persuade me otherwise. Now you can be a good boy and give me what I want, or we can forgo the pleasantries of camaraderie and I can exterminate you right now. Which do you prefer?"

"But how did you?" Edward asked as his jaw knitted itself back together.

"My mutation is rather physical you could say. Not only do I get cool looking eyes and teeth, I have gained quite a bit of physical strength, stamina, and agility. That doesn't even account for the fact that I heal at almost the same rate vampires do. In fact I'm immune to your venom; I found that out the second time I got attacked by a coven. Don't even get me started on my upgraded natural defenses and weapons, but you will see those shortly." Bella said with an almost evil grin. "By the way, I've wanted to hit you ever since you broke up with me. Causing you pain as a result is just an added bonus."

"What are you planning on doing?" Edward asked for the first time in their conversation actually feeling afraid of the woman before him.

"Oh, well that should be easy to discern, I'm going to kill you. As we speak four of my associates, all of which are mutants themselves, are eliminating what's left of your family. They were going to get in the way of my revenge, so I made sure they were dealt with accordingly. I even got my son to separate you five so any chances they might have had of escaping my friends would be eliminated." Bella said lowering her hand and standing to her full height. Despite the fact that Edward easily towered over her, she looked quite intimidating in her stance.

"Why are you doing this?" Edward asked knowing Bella had also gotten Emmett and Rosalie. He just hoped Bella didn't personally see to Emmett's demise. He knew his brother had been quite fond of the brunette woman, and it would have broken him more than it probably did to be so helpless when faced with these mutants.

"Why? It's simple Eddy, your family ruined my chances of having a normal life. No matter which way you slice it, I would have ended up either a vampire, stuck on the res, or how I am now. Any hope of me being considered normal was out the window the minute you took interest in me. I admit some of the blame is on me for actually giving in to you but that was before I knew what you were. By the time I found out you were a vampire it was too late, I was in too deep, and you sure as hell weren't going to help me out of it even if I wanted to get out of it." Bella said with a snarl. "Now I have vampires coming out of the woodworks to kill me and a new family to think of and protect. A family that is far more important to me than you ever were."

"Bella, I still love you. You need to calm down and think about this. We can work out a way to end this peacefully and so no one gets hurt." Edward tried as he stood up hoping to calm the woman before him.

"Love me? I doubt that. If you really loved me like you say you do then you wouldn't have left. You wouldn't have been so afraid of your own existence to leave me out in the open and vulnerable like you did. If you were so afraid of what you are that you couldn't properly take care of me like someone in love should, then why should I give myself to you? I don't want to be your pet or child; I never wanted you to treat me like that. I wanted to be your equal, to stand beside you when you needed me to. I found out what you were and still staid with you. Not out of fear or the chance of immortality, but because I actually truly did care for you. Now you're standing there professing your love for me because if I believe you then you won't end up dead. Not once have you looked at me the way you used to. No Edward Cullen, you don't love me, you lust after me." Bella snarled growing more and more agitated. "When I become a threat of any kind you pull out the love card and try to seduce me into doing things your way. Well I'm sick and tired of doing things your way. You are nothing but a good for nothing spoiled son of a bitchy idiotic whorish bastard!"

"Volterra!" Edward shouted when it looked like Bella was about to charge at him again.

"What?" Bella asked blinking in surprise at the outburst.

"The Volturi live in Volterra, Italy. They live under the old tower in the square. I can take you there if it pleases you." Edward tried glad to see her actually pause and seemed to think about it. "They have the advanced guard there, thirty two highly trained and powerful vampires that can prove devastating for any coven thus far. If we do things right I can get us in without much incident and you can have your revenge."

"Really? That doesn't sound too hard to accomplish your help or not." Bella said looking at the vampire with a thoughtful gleam in her eyes, even if the fiery rage had yet to subside.

"It will be much easier if I'm there I assure you." Edward said calmly not betraying his inner terror. "It shouldn't take us more than a month to defeat them." He added hoping to bribe her. "It'll also give me enough time to make you see I still love you." Edward added almost silently under his breath to himself.

Unfortunately for him, the only warning she heard him was an increase of rage in her eyes. He didn't even realize fully she had heard his last comment before he was being torn into. His eyes could only barely pick up the quick flashes of gold before he was unable to comprehend even that. The pain he felt was immense as if he was being carved into small pieces by rather sharp butcher knives. In the end he didn't stand a chance and was soon a pile of burning ashes. The only thing that showed his once existence was the family crest resting in his once lover's hand.

Bella was breathing hard once she was finished tearing into Edward and setting his remains on fire. It didn't seem to register what she just did for a minute, since she was still so high on anger. Once it did she stumbled back a few steps before finding a fallen log just inside the woods to sit down on. Her hands were shaking as her armor and claws retracted, leaving only the sensation of the cold crest resting against her palm. Suddenly as she sat there the shock slowly wore off leaving a torrent of emotions in its wake. She couldn't really comprehend all of the emotions she was feeling but as she rested her head in her hands, she did nothing to stop the silent tears that slowly started to make their way down her cheeks. If anything she knew somewhere deep down, that part of her that had always belonged to Edward had just died with him. She didn't truly understand it, but she mourned for the loss anyway. She wondered also if anything would fill the sudden void she felt in her heart. If it did she hoped it was big enough to sooth the loss since she had a feeling she'd never truly forget it.

It took her longer than she would have liked to finally pull herself together. Once she did however she took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. Although it hurt only slightly now, she felt like a great weight had been lifted off of her for the first time. She was ready to shoulder a new responsibility, one that was far less personal but still very dangerous. She knew things would not become relatively normal for her and her friends if vampires still roamed the earth. So it was time to ditch the personal crusade and start the war that would end with the Volturi. She knew they had a lot of planning and work ahead but she felt ready to lead her friends onward. If they wanted to back out she would let them but she vowed then and there to not stop until she made sure there were no more bloodsuckers walking the Earth.

"Grant you can lower the shield." Bella said into her communicator ready to face what was ahead of her. Now all she had to do was confront her friends about their next mission and see if they were willing to help.

"Oui mère, I'll lower it right away." Grant responded as Bella made her way to the spot they had all agreed to meet at. She hoped the upcoming conversation was a pleasant one. She didn't know if she could stand her adopted family breaking up so soon after this. But if it did she would respect their wishes, she may be their leader but she was still their friend and equal.

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YAY! All I have now is a conclusion to write and this will be done. Yep, Bella is angry in this chapter. She even scared me for a while there since I was really having a bit of hard time keeping the flow. But, I hammered this out the best I could. The saga isn't finished now that the Cullens are gone, but that doesn't mean a chapter isn't closing in it. What more can I say? I have one last chapter to go and then that's the end. Anyway, I'll get it to you guys as soon as humanly possible, I have three days and enough stuff to pack to keep me busy so if not tomorrow then definitely the next day. I don't really want to end this on the fourth of July since I have a ton of plans but if I have to I will, since that will be the last day my computer will be set up. Anyway, enough of my rambling I have to get stuff done.

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	19. Chapter 19

**Summary**: In the first chapter.

**poorasdirt**: Well here it is, the final chapter. I'm just glad I got it done before the fourth. I am going to write a sequel to this since this whole long tale isn't finished but I won't be posting anything for a month at least if not longer. I know what I want to do next and I have a few notes down but for the most part I don't even have a complete outline of the next story. Anyway, I would like to thank all of you that have reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted this story.

**Disclaimer**: Right, I only own the OCs and plot line, everything else has thier own owners.

**ENJOY!**

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As Bella made it out of the woods, she couldn't help the slight smile grace her lips at the sight of her friends. Dante was holding a candy bar over Grant's head trying to make the boy jump for it. While that was taking place, Dolph was sighing and Madison was laughing hysterically. Hiro for his part was leaning casually against a nearby tree with his arms crossed looking bored, but Bella could see the faint twitch of his lips suggesting he was suppressing a smile. She stood there for a minute just taking in the sight of her adopted family being themselves. She noted Dante had a few bruises and Grant looked a bit drained, but otherwise they were all safe. She had a few reservations about sending Dante after Jasper, but she had faith in his abilities. She was glad to see her faith hadn't led her wrong, but she would make sure to get him to train more, rather than laze around the house.

"Dante just give him the candy bar already." Bella said rolling her eyes making Dante turn to her with a grin.

"Ah but senorita where is the fun in that?" He asked while Madison stopped laughing.

"Bells you're alright!" Madison said rushing up and nearly tackling her friend. "So what vampire threat do we have to take out now?"

"How did you know we had another vampire threat?" Bella asked curiously wondering how her friend figured it out.

"Come on, I may be blond but I'm not that stupid. I know the Cullens weren't really behind all the attacks on us but they did provide an annoying obstacle. So what's our next big bad target?" Madison asked while Bella looked at her boys. Dante had given Grant the candy bar and was now giving her his full attention. Dolph had turn to her with a curious but patient look on his face. While Hiro had stood up and now gave her his undivided attention as well. Grant for his part was eating his prize but still waiting for what she had to say.

"Well it seems the real threat behind all the attacks is a coven called the Volturi. They are supposed to be considered royalty in the vampire society, what they say goes sort of thing. I don't have a lot on them information wise, just they are said to have over thirty members and live in a town I guess called Volterra in Italy." Bella said with a shrug.

"So we're going to war?" Dolph asked curiously.

"I guess you could say that. If you don't mind helping me that is, I understand if you walk. I personally want to get rid of every vampire on the face of the earth, but that will take time and power. Even though I know for certain we have just fewer than a hundred covens left, we still haven't made extra certain that they haven't tried to bolster their numbers." Bella said with a frown.

"Well I for one wish to help you." Dolph said looking to the others, Hiro nodded in agreement; Dante just grinned looking like he was going nowhere, and Madison rolled her eyes at the thought of leaving Bella alone to face this upcoming battle. Grant for his part just smirked knowing wherever his mother would go he would follow, even if Bella tried to leave him with one of his other uncles or his adopted grandmother.

"Well with that settled we should head back to the motel and plan our next move. We ought to call Felix as well to give him the scoop and see if he can't find any information on Volterra." Madison said getting nods from her friends before they went to get on their bikes. A rain storm was coming and none of them particularly wanted to drive through it.

Once they got back to the motel they went straight to Bella's room. Bella set up her lap top to call Felix, while the others debated what they wanted on their delivery pizza. Bella didn't really care as she heard the five debating over having sausage or pepperoni. She didn't have to wait long for Felix to appear on her computer screen. "Hey Bella, what can I do for you?" He asked curiously.

"I need you to look into possible vampire activity around Volterra, Italy. Well if you're up to it." Bella said with a slight smile not wanting to demand anything of her friend.

"Sure, I take it you found the source of your vampire problem. What about the Cullens?" Felix asked curiously.

"They're gone." Bella said getting a grin from her tech savvy friend.

"That's good to hear. Did you have any injuries on your side?"

"Dante has a few bruises but otherwise we're all fine. They're currently trying to kill each other over which pizza topping they want on their dinner." Bella said looking over her shoulder at her friends. Madison was partially in her liquid form trying to strangle Hiro, who was wrestling Dante; while Dolph stood nearby holding the phone, and Grant cheered them on. "So far I think Dolph is winning." She said with a smile. "I'm not picky so long as there are no anchovies, they already know that."

"Yum, so is the information about Volterra all you need? I have some stuff to tell you by the way." Felix said with a grin.

"Yea, what do you have for me?" Bella asked curiously turning back to the man she could practically call her older brother.

"Well first I looked up that one woman you wanted me to, Mrs. Waters. She's a forty-three-year-old lawyer with a firm here in Seattle. From what I can gather she's all legitimate with her practice and quite on the straight and narrow. She grew up in Forks with your dad and seems to have been in business with him for some time. She doesn't register as a mutant on any of the databases I've checked so it's safe to say she's one hundred percent normal human. There is a reference to her being a top notch sharp shooter; she used to compete in recreational shooting. I also managed to find that she took some self defense classes back in her twenties after she was mugged on her way home from work. All in all she comes off as a normal if not slightly dangerous human lawyer with a reputable practice." Felix said getting a nod from Bella. "I'll email you her current contact numbers."

"Thanks, there are some questions I have for her. Is there anything else?" Bella asked curiously glancing over her shoulder when a pillow hit her in the back of the head.

"Sorry Bells." Madison said sheepishly before going back to trying to pummel Hiro.

"Well yea, there is one thing you should be aware of. I took the liberty of monitoring that military base in the woods; you know the one that Dr. G was using before? Anyway, I managed to get some footage from the security system, the wench has shown up. From the looks of it they haven't started to move just yet but I wouldn't put it past them to try something with you all there." Felix said getting a nod from Bella.

"Great, thanks for the heads up. We weren't going to be staying here much longer anyway. Is that it?" Bella asked curiously.

"For now it is, I'll see you guys in Seattle." Felix said before they ended their webcam conversation.

"Alright boys and girl, can you settle down? I have some important news to make that doesn't involve pizza toppings." Bella said turning to her friends who went from rough housing to simply regarding her. "HYDRA is indeed in the area. Felix picked up Dr. G on the surveillance camera when he hacked into that base a few miles out of Port Angeles. This means we're going to have to pack up and ship out quickly before they realize we're here."

"How long do you think that will take?" Madison asked curiously.

"How about we leave tomorrow?" Bella suggested as her friends shared a look.

"That sounds fine, we'll be heading back to Seattle first I presume." Dolph said getting a nod from Bella.

"So we have to get down to business don't we?" Dante asked with a sigh knowing fun and games were over for now.

"I'm afraid so my friend." Dolph said with a smile.

"What do we need first?" Madison asked making Bella look up at the ceiling in thought.

"I think we should agree to stick together from now on. Sure it will slow down the hunt for vampires but we will need to refine our teamwork if we're going to face the Volturi. They're a big coven from the sounds of it and going in to a situation like that individually would be suicidal." Bella suggested looking down at her friends who seemed to consider what she said before nodding in agreement.

"We should check our map and start with smaller covens." Hiro said from his quiet corner of the world making Bella smile.

"I don't see why not, it'll be good practice for when we do go for the big boys." Madison said bouncing up and down.

"We can figure out which coven to go after first when we get to Seattle; it'll give us some time to map out our next move and we will have an easy escape route should Dr. G show up." Dante said calmly and none of the other's really disputed that claim.

"So Dolph order dinner, we'll start to pack up to go. I'm going to call Angela, Sue, and Billy to tell them I'm leaving town tomorrow and will stop by to say goodbye." Bella said getting a nod from Dolph while the others began to disperse to pack up their belongings.

Early the next day Bella pulled the truck into Billy's driveway after saying goodbye to Sue and Angela. Madison opted to go with the boys in the truck Bella bought to tow a trailer for their bikes. So it was only her and Grant in her old truck. "I'll be right back kiddo; you can wait here if you want." Bella said looking down at Grant with a smile as her adopted son yawned.

"Okay mère." Grant said cuddling down into his chair. Bella smiled as she stepped out into the light rain and made her way towards the small red house to knock on the door. She didn't have to wait long for Jacob to let her in.

"Hey Uncle Billy!" Bella greeted giving the man a hug. "Sorry I couldn't stay longer but some stuff came up."

"I know how it is; you don't have to explain it to me." Billy said with a smile. "Just take care and stay out of trouble."

"I will, if I'm back in the area I'll make sure to drop by. I can't forget about my honorary uncle after all." Bella said with a smile. "Take care of yourself and don't let Jacob's whining get you down." She added getting a chuckle from him.

"I won't, make sure you take care of your boy and sister." Billy said sternly getting a nod from the still smiling Bella. "Don't forget I enjoy postcards either."

"I'll keep in touch, you don't have to worry." Bella said before giving him one last big hug and heading towards the door.

"Bella wait." Jacob said when Bella got to the front door. "Do you really have to go?"He asked looking slightly dejected.

"Yes Jacob I really have to go." Bella said with a sigh mentally grumbling at how much he looked like a kicked puppy.

"But why? You could stay here." Jacob asked looking at her with a frown.

"I really can't. I have obligations outside of Forks. Even if I wanted to stay here I don't think I could. While there are a lot of good memories there are just as many bad ones. Sure it would be great to have Grant go to a real school but I just can't be here." Bella said desperately wanting to explain exactly why she couldn't stay in Forks but just knew it wouldn't go over well.

"But couldn't you make more good memories?" Jacob asked with a frown almost determined to make Bella stay.

"Jake, it's just not that simple. Trust me, if it was I wouldn't leave this place for the world, but my life took off when I did five years ago. As weird as this is going to sound, my road trip isn't finished just yet. Not because I don't want it to be, I'm really getting sick and tired of moving all the time. It's just I've never found a place where I'm comfortable enough to stay. I don't know, maybe I'm a bit crazy but after dad died I just didn't feel like Forks or La Push were my home anymore. I tried staying with mom for a while but that didn't last long either. Believe me when I do finally find a place to settle down Billy and Sue will be the first people to know." Bella said with a smile, mentally adding that as soon as HYDRA was no longer a threat and she somehow dealt with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interest in her, she would definitely find a place to park herself. That didn't include her new war against vampires, but she had time.

If what she saw from her great uncle, grandfather, and uncle was true she knew eventually her healing factor would freeze her aging process. She was hoping it wouldn't, but she had a funny feeling that that hope was a false one. The only consolation she had was it seemed Madison was in the same boat she was in. The blonde didn't change much over the years appearance-wise due to the fact she constantly used her powers. Conrad had theorized that because Madison's mutation allowed her to break down her cellular structure and reconstruct it perfectly back to its previous state, it was similar in part to Bella's healing factor. Well, that's how he put it; Bella just figured Madison subconsciously maintained her body at her prime. Bella and Madison knew there was a very good chance they would outlive their boys. The only thing they wished was to see them die of old age after long fulfilling lives, rather than by some traumatic event when they were still relatively young.

"I don't want you to go Bella." Jacob said in a slight whine wanting her to stay there with him. All it got was a sigh from the woman before she looked up at him in determination.

"Jacob Black let me go." She said making him blink. "I'm never going to come back here to live. I will come and visit, but as soon as Sue and Billy are gone I probably will never set foot on this reservation again. The only other time I'll be in Forks after that is when I go visit Angela. You really need to let me go, not just physically but mentally as well. I know you have that crush on me, and I do love you but not in that way. So just let it go and find someone else that will love you better than I ever could. You're like a dear cousin to me, and I don't want you to end up a sad lonely decrypted old man that never found happiness in life because you remained hung up on me. Yea it hurts, yea you're probably going to be angry at me for a while if not forever, but I can't love you and give you happiness like you want me to. There are millions of people out there Jake, I've seen them, I'm sure there's one person out there that is way better suited for you than I am."

"I know but it's just." Jacob began to explain but Bella smiled and put her finger to his lips.

"You don't have to say a word. I know how you feel." Bella said with a look of understanding in her eyes that made Jacob relax and nod. "Just promise you'll do something with your life that you love and that will make you happy. If you do find that special someone I don't mind wearing a bride's maid dress so long as I can bring Madison and Grant along for the party."

"Okay Bella." Jacob said with a sad smile feeling a bit dejected but otherwise amused. He wasn't sure if he'd invite Madison to his wedding if he ever had one. He'd seen what she was like on sugar on a normal day, he didn't want to know what she was like drinking. While he had nothing against the blonde woman personally, he just would rather if he wasn't in the same vicinity as her if she got a little more crazy than normal.

"Good, now Billy's got my cell phone number in the address book next to the phone. I can't say I'll always pick up but if you need to talk to someone outside of the res, I'm always a call away. Take good care of Billy and tell Seth to not give his mom hell. He wasn't there when I was over so I didn't get to tell him that." Bella said before giving Jacob a bear hug. "I can't say I won't miss you."

"I'll miss you too Bella." Jacob said with a sad smile as she pulled away and opened the front door.

"Oh, which reminds me, next time you see Sam tell him the Cullens are dead." Bella said with a smirk before slipping out of the house. Jacob blinked as the request registered in his head, before jumping and rushing after the brunette woman. However, when he exited the house her truck was already going down the road and away from La Push once more. He stood there watching as the truck turned the corner and was gone out of sight.

"She knew, holy hell, she knew!" Jacob exclaimed in awe. His mind still couldn't comprehend just what the woman knew, but that was beside the point. All that mattered was the Cullens were dead, the pack would have to check that, and Bella was already on her way back to where it is her feet take her. Though, something deep down in Jacob's gut understood Bella knew there was something off with him and his friends from the reservation. He also figured she knew Sam was their ring leader and that whatever they did or were was to protect their land from vampires.

"Jacob, are you alright?" Billy asked seeing Jacob standing outside looking in the direction Bella left in.

"Yea, I'm just going into shock." Jacob answered absently wondering if Bella was serious about never coming back to Forks unless to visit or it was absolutely necessary. If she did he would have to ask her just what she knew and how she knew it. Until then, all he could do was shake his head and go back into his house.

While Jacob was going into shock, Bella smiled mischievously as she drove down the road. Grant was asleep by her side and the radio was playing. She honestly hadn't wanted to tell Jacob that the Cullens were dead but figured he deserved to know. At the very least, she knew she wouldn't be returning to Forks for a few years at the earliest, unless something happened to Billy, Sue, or Angela. Now all she had to do was focus on the upcoming adventure ahead. From what they figured last night they had roughly ninety-three covens left to take down and that didn't include the Volturi. Bella knew it would be difficult to get all the vampires, but she figured along the way she could find a way to detect if the vampires were increasing their numbers. If she couldn't do it personally she wasn't above persuading someone to do it for her.

"You know Grant; your mère can be one hell of an evil bitch when she wants to be." She muttered quietly to the sleeping boy. She grinned when she didn't receive a reply, even if she wasn't expecting one. So with a new sense of accomplishment and duty, Bella Swan left Forks Washington behind her for yet another road trip. All the while she hoped this upcoming adventure wouldn't somehow be the death of her or her friends.

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YAY! Haha, Bella pulled a fast one on Jacob. They're off and they have quite a bit of adventure still in front of them. I think in the next story we will get a better understand exactly when all of this is taking place since I know there wasn't much of that in this one. From the way things are looking the next story will be Bella vs. the Volturi and then I'll write one more where we see Bella vs. HYDRA. The next one will obviously not have a lot of interaction between the Xmen but the one after that will probably have a few more encounters. I don't think Bella will have a love interest in the next one either I'm still debating it. I don't know, anyway tell me how you liked this story overall, I'd be glad to hear what y'all think.

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